A Game Sustained

137 is the same. There is no difference in the style of play: the lobbing of bombs into an enemy trench has not brought about any change in the delivery of the ball. Batsmen are cautious or adventurous according to temperament, much as they always were, and the endeavour to hit the ball along the carpet is maintained, all waiting for the rare occasions when they can lift it over the rails for 6. In contrast, the reporter commented that the food on offer was much more expensive, the service poor and the quality awful. 87 The Hull Daily Mail was also excited that the game was back, reporting that there was a feeling of “armistice joyfulness” about the players, although Yorkshire lost to Lancashire by 140 runs. Unimpressed by what it had seen in the opening weeks of the season, the Leeds Mercury had already concluded that the county was an ‘indifferent batting and a weak bowling side.’ For the next game against Warwickshire, the 35-year-old Emmott Robinson came in for his debut in place of David Denton, who had been injured against Lancashire. It was 13 years since Robinson had first appeared in the Yorkshire Second XI. Initially, his Pudsey St Lawrence club gave him leave to play, but then telegrammed for him to return home. As this would have left Yorkshire short (and anxious that he might never get another chance) Robinson decided to stay regardless. The game resulted in a Yorkshire win by an innings and 63 runs, Rhodes taking nine wickets and Hirst making 120. On 20 June, Yorkshire played its first County Championship game on home soil since 1914. Hirst captained the side against Derbyshire in Burton’s absence on a hurriedly renovated Bradford ground. Although two-day cricket was increasingly condemned as ‘an absurd experiment’, Yorkshire again did not need even that time as 25 wickets fell on the first day and the contest was over before lunch on the second. Players now complained regularly that they were always battling against time in the short-form game, and any extra effort was not worth it in the rush. They also disliked the eight or more hours in the field, while at Leyton A wonderful relief: 1919