A Game Sustained

126 Club decided that cricket should be played in 1919 and discussed how to increase the links between the main city club and local sides, including by reviving the old York Cup Competition. In Rotherham, members of the Town Cricket Club, which had been on hold during the war, also agreed to resume in 1919. The local mayor said the club was one of the oldest institutions in the town and should not be allowed to disappear. Officials agreed not to engage professionals but decided to join the Yorkshire Cricket Council. Numerous clubs were revived as the winter went on. In mid- January, the Hull Coal Exporters’ Cricket Club met after a lapse of four years and restarted once several players had returned from overseas. It had given away almost all its equipment to servicemen at home and abroad during the war, and therefore had to pay hugely inflated prices for replacements before the season started. Other clubs faced different challenges. The Pontefract Cricket Club, which had done well in the Yorkshire Council in 1914, hoped to restart after a four-year break, but the task was made harder by vandalism to the club’s pavilion. Other clubs searched for new facilities, kit and equipment, or advertised for a ground to rent or buy. Although some had reservations, as part of the revival there was a sudden increased demand for professionals and groundsmen. At New Year 1919, Sowerby Bridge advertised in the Yorkshire Post for a ‘First-Class Professional cricketer’, with ‘fast bowler preferred’. Bankfoot wanted a groundsman and fast bowler, while Undercliffe needed a groundsman and first-class batsman. As spring approached, the same paper was again full of adverts for clubs needing assistance, and in April it was claimed that Jack Hobbs had been seen in Idle and would help the club out when not needed by Surrey. There was controversy when the Bradford League executive committee determined that unless Cecil Parkin agreed to carry out his agreement with Undercliffe in 1919, he would be barred from any Bradford League club. Parkin declined to say any more on the matter and so was prevented from playing in the competition. Getting cricket back on its feet: winter 1918/19