A Game Sustained

116 Struggling through to the end: 1918 she had learned her cricket. It was reportedly not her first century. Games were also played between Saltaire and Idle Ladies against Undercliffe and Eccleshill Ladies, and in its annual report, the Saltaire club said it had its eye on some of the opposition but would not mention names in case they tried to demand some kind of payment to change clubs. Baildon and Tong Park Ladies’ teams played in September 1917 to raise money for Baildon’s Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Comforts Fund. Mixed-sex games were also played. In July 1916, a match took place between men and women for the local Red Cross fund in Loftus, North Yorkshire, where a captured German gun was on show on the ground. In mid-May 1918, a ‘lady players’ section was formed at Scarborough Cricket Club, where David Hunter, the former Yorkshire wicketkeeper, coached them one evening a week. The following September, a game was played on the North Marine Road ground between the Mayoress’ Ladies Team and officers of the Manchester Regiment. In Todmorden, the women who ran the tea committee organised a match between Married and Single, as well as a Flag Day for the prisoners of war fund. The game was well attended and the local reporter commented that ‘just as women have shone in so many other spheres, so on the playing fields they can take the men’s places at a pinch, and make something more than merely a fair show.’ A second wartime development was the growing link between cricket and the workplace, and the increased awareness among some employers of the importance of recreation for a healthy workforce. The creation of many new factories, and the length of shifts, meant that the workplace became ever more central to the lives of many people and it was therefore natural for it to be a focus for recreation. In Sheffield, several sports clubs were created with links to the many big works, ‘for the big employers of labour have discovered that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.’ In June 1918, the Sheffield Independent added that ‘Factory playing fields are taking an increasingly important place in the industrial world and recreation grounds now