A Game Sustained

118 American soldiers in England led to the novelty of baseball being played in parts of Yorkshire. In June 1918, for example, what was described as ‘a fairly big gathering’ in Roundhay took place between two teams of American soldiers from a Yorkshire training camp. The game was considered to have some appeal, although it was also dismissed by cynics as ‘rounders on a large scale’. The same month, some 3,000 people turned out in Hull to watch two teams of American soldiers and sailors play baseball. One Hull reporter was impressed, describing the game as requiring ‘lightning quickness and considerable ingenuity’, but it also apparently left many in the crowd ‘cold’. A lot of curiosity was also aroused by the ‘barracking and badinage’ of the Americans, and the behaviour of the coaches reportedly surprised the staid Yorkshire crowd which was ‘accustomed to doze over cricket.’ Further games were played in Sheffield in July, and then in Hull, Whitby and Scarborough in the late summer. County cricket and a return to Scarborough As noted earlier, a common theme in the Sheffield papers during 1916 and 1917 had been dissatisfaction at the lack of any significant matches in the town compared to Bradford and elsewhere. In mid-March 1918, however, F.C.Toone advised the Sheffield United Club that a match between Yorkshire and the Yorkshire Council would be played at Bramall Lane on Whit Monday. A second game was organised for the August Bank Holiday. The Sheffield match took place on 20 and 21 May. A number of changes of personnel were needed to the sides that were originally advertised as Lord Hawke was not well enough to play, and J.P.Wilson and D.C.F.Burton could not get away from military duties. An unexpected appearance was, however, made by Roy Kilner, who was still on military service in Preston. Yorkshire batted first and made 241, with Hirst making 56 as opener and Rhodes 74, before the Council side were all out for 100. The county then added 97 for five and declared. The Council side made just 53 and fell 183 runs short, with Ernest Smith taking 12 wickets in the Struggling through to the end: 1918