A Game Sustained

52 Keeping going: 1914-1915 very much needed to meet the wants and comforts of those who have had personal experience of what the horrors of war really mean. 44 Players often made a significant effort to appear. B.B.Wilson, for example, who worked in munitions in Leeds, got to the ground for one game at 3 o’clock, just in time to bat, having been at work in his factory since six in the morning. In September, another game on behalf of the Red Cross at Pudsey St Lawrence was played between a Councillor Ingham’s Team, which included Hobbs, Denton, Drake, Wilson, Booth, Haigh, and Sutcliffe and other Yorkshire second team players, and a Mr.C.Sowden’s XI, which included Hirst, Rhodes, Kilner, Dolphin and Grimshaw besides respected club cricketers and Yorkshire Second XI cricketers. The primary object was the purchase of a motor ambulance for the front at a cost of over £300. At the end of the game, F.C.Toone praised the cricketers for their part in the war and J.J.Booth – in more conciliatory mood than usual – thanked the Yorkshire players for their efforts during the season. One particularly sad note was that this would appear to be Major Booth’s last recorded cricket match in the county – on 18 September 1915 – and one in which he did not bat or bowl. More successful was Jack Hobbs, who ended the season in style, making 118 for Idle against Yeadon in a match for the Belgian Relief Fund, opening the batting with Wilfred Rhodes. The Idle side also included George Hirst and Schofield Haigh. Providing equipment to the troops Another connection between cricket in Yorkshire and the war came through the county’s response to meeting the recreational needs of the troops abroad. Away from battle, many soldiers had nothing to do but read, write and sleep as they waited for their next period of duty. In these circumstances, many were desparate to play sport. One American observer suggested that this desire marked the British troops out from the French, who instead sat around discussing the war and were reportedly scandalised by what