A Game Sustained

151 A wonderful relief: 1919 won the Cleveland and South Durham Cricket League, only securing the title in the last series of games. The same league decided to revive a second division for 1920. Fine weather in August helped with this restoration of the local game, and the Heavy Woollen District final and the Priestley Cup that month saw more record crowds. For example, £177 was taken at a match at Batley, where 8,000 attended and, despite 40,000 leaving Bradford on train and motor- charabanc outings, there were still 14,000 present at Park Avenue on cup final day. Keighley won the Bradford League and attracted crowds of 6,000. Not everything ran smoothly and some clubs would take longer to recover. The problems facing Scarborough Cricket Club remained. It had retired temporarily from Council cricket due to the distance involved in travelling to away games, coupled with the withdrawal of railway facilities when tracks on the local line were taken up and sent to France. This meant the team could not get to the West Riding and back in a day. With 50 per cent added to railway fares, the club decided to be satisfied with local cricket of a lower standard. The Harrogate club, which had been out of Council cricket for five years, was another not to resume in 1919, while Featherstone Cricket Club gave up cricket altogether. Nevertheless, looking back on 1919, F.W.Elam cast his expert eye over the summer’s developments and noted with pleasure that the great post-war revival of outdoor games had exceeded the wildest hopes. The game at all levels was back on its feet.