A Game Sustained

113 Struggling through to the end: 1918 replayed and there was another big crowd of 11,000. The aggregate attendance over the two games was thus nearly 25,000, with total receipts £641, far higher than the previous best of £190. S.F.Barnes was not the only older player who showed in the summer of 1918 that they could still perform. ‘Old Ebor’ was impressed by F.W.Elam, who was now 47, after his performance in the game between Yorkshire and the England XI when he made 86. Elam had been born in Hunslet in 1871, trained as a teacher in London, and was headmaster at Headingley St Michael’s school until 1933. He played for Yorkshire just twice – once in both the 1900 and 1902 seasons – and was better known as captain of Leeds Cricket Club for ten years to 1911, President of the Yorkshire Cricket Council and a regular contributor to the Yorkshire Evening Post on local cricket before his death in 1943. Even older was the great Yorkshire slow left-arm bowler Bobby Peel, now 61 and captain of the Churwell Cricket Club, for whom he had made 330 runs so far that season, including 69 in the Heavy Woollen District Challenge Cup semi-final. Peel told ‘Old Ebor’ that despite never having worked harder than he did now in a local mill, he had never been happier. Competitions came to a head at the end of the summer. The Heavy Woollen District Cup was won for the Ossett for the third year in a row, the first time that had been done since the 1880s. The Huddersfield and District League Championship semi-finals should have concluded on 14 September at Linthwaite and Slaithwaite, but no play was possible. Further attempts were made to hold the match, but on 7 October the League committee finally decided to abandon the competition and Linthwaite – as the holders – were allowed to retain the trophy. In early September, in the Bradford League, Saltaire beat Bankfoot to secure the title and achieve the rare feat of winning both cup and league in the same season. Barnes was again the match winner, taking eight for 12 in 13.4 overs and scoring runs at a vital point. The final of the Yorkshire Council Championship between Brighouse and Heckmondwike was abandoned after only a