A Game Sustained

179 In these uncertain times, Yorkshire County Cricket Club returned strongly after the war in a way which ensured cricket reconnected with much of the population. The first two post-war summers saw a strong side emerge to win the County Championship in 1919 and compete until the third week of August for the 1920 title in an exciting five- team race. The policy of retaining a small number of players during the conflict meant Yorkshire was able to build on a core of players and was thus better prepared than most other counties to take the Championship seriously in 1919. The success of the team was also shaped by the war in other ways. Those who had served abroad like Arthur Dolphin were hardened by the experience and relieved to have survived. Those who stayed at home were just happy to be playing sport without any stigma attached. By the end of the 1920 season each of the key players who would form the four-time Championship winning side of 1922-25 had appeared for Yorkshire. Rhodes remained from the end of the previous century, Dolphin, Roy Kilner, Rockley Wilson, Burton and Holmes from before the war, while Sutcliffe, Waddington, Robinson, Norman Kilner, Geoffrey Wilson and Macaulay all made their debuts once the game restarted. There remained gaps in the team but in 1921, Wisden considered Yorkshire was the ‘best-balanced county team in England with stronger bowling than any of their rivals.’ 129 The following summer it all came together, and Yorkshire’s largely professional side became a relentless force in English cricket for much of the decade. Ultimately cricket was carried on in Yorkshire during the First World War and flourished after it because of the range of responses to the ethical dilemma posed by the conflict for sports and those who played them. Had everyone approached things in wartime like the Bradford League President, J.J.Booth, far more people would have been alienated and offended, and the reputation of the game would have been tarnished in many more people’s eyes. Had everyone advocated abandoning the game for the duration, it might have died in places and resumed differently (or Concluding thoughts: Cricket, Yorkshire and the Great War