A Game Sustained

77 Shocks to the system: 1916 think.’ After a wet start to the season, improved weather in the middle of July 1916 brought out the crowds at Saltaire, where the takings in one match were around £70, prompted by the presence of Barnes and Woolley. The following week, Parkin was again successful, taking eight for 19 for Undercliffe against Laisterdyke, and in the Yorkshire Cricket Council, David Denton made 118 not out for Ossett. At Saltaire, there was controversy when J.J.Booth, despite his standing and visibility as President of the Bradford League, was refused entry to the pavilion by an over-zealous gateman. He was there to watch Jack Hobbs, who ‘shook off the mediocrity which has characterised his work of late’ and scored 87 and took nine for 39 to dominate the contest. A collection of over £10 was made for Hobbs as the home side was dismissed in an hour. The death of Major Booth and injury to Roy Kilner While some back home combined war work and cricket of some kind, many more men were abroad fighting in far more trying and frightening circumstances. Two of those Yorkshire county players who had continued to appear occasionally in local cricket in 1915 during military training – Major Booth and Roy Kilner – were sent abroad at the end of the year. In November 1915, the Leeds Pals battalion received new equipment, prompting rumours that it would soon be deployed. On the 11th, they were put on standby to go to France, but in early December sailed instead for Egypt, taking up defensive positions on the Suez Canal. The Pals stayed there for three months but by the spring the threat had lessened and they re-embarked for Marseilles, heading for northern France. 57 In early May 1916, the Yorkshire Post passed on news from a man from Leeds, stationed at the front, who had recently seen Major Booth. He was reportedly ‘looking well’ and wanted to be remembered to his cricketing friends at home. A letter from Roy Kilner to F.C.Toone also referred to Booth and to Evelyn Lintott, the Bradford City and Leeds City