Double Headers

44 1919, all Worcestershire’s inter-county matches that year were two-day affairs). Unlike the Surrey instance in 1909, there seems to be no extant start-of-season fixture list which shows both games on those dates. But as already noted, none of Worcestershire’s fixtures were included in any such fixture lists. 41 I have also traced no other early-season statement or comment acknowledging that Warwickshire were due to play two county matches simultaneously during the season. So we must just settle for the fact that the two matches have been arranged for the same dates. Let’s note too that the ‘more important’ match, Warwickshire’s Championship match with Derbyshire, was arranged after their match with Worcestershire had been fixed for the same dates, and thus in the knowledge that a clash, or a double-header, would result. Perhaps if the Edgbaston match with Worcestershire had not been mooted until after the initial Championship list had been drawn up, it would not have been fixed for the Bank Holiday, tradition notwithstanding. In which case – no story. But happily for lovers of the arcane, that was not the case. Players: Warwickshire Despite the difficulties resulting from the War, Warwickshire were able to appoint nine professionals to the groundstaff for 1919, six of whom had played for the county pre-war. 42 But recognising the weakness of their post-war squad, Warwickshire undertook a search for new talent throughout the season: “The County is being systematically scoured for players of ability, and no promising player in a public school, or a local or village club, is being denied the opportunity of being tested at the nets, or given a trial in a minor match to see what he is made of.” 43 For their first Championship match since August 1914, against Surrey at The Oval on Friday 6 June 1919, Warwickshire fielded a side that featured eight of their retained professionals – all but Ernest Suckling - together with the amateurs Jack Parsons , Commander Charles Cowan, and Willie Hands, who captained the side in the absence of the official captain George Stephens. This XI included five of those who had played in Warwickshire’s last pre-war match, while the other six had for the most part at least some first-class experience. Only one (Harry Austin) was making his first- class debut, while one other (Verner Luckin) was making his debut for 41 We know that the Warwickshire fixture was effectively in place by 4 January 1919, and – from a brief item in The Times on 1 February 1919, reporting Gloucestershire’s acceptance of fixtures with Worcestershire - we know that the fixtures between those two counties were arranged at about the same time as the main county fixture list was being drawn up. Thus Worcestershire’s fixtures with Warwickshire and Gloucestershire, at least, could have been included in the fixture list published following the county secretaries’ meeting on 6 February, and/or in the list subsequently published in Wisden ; but they were not. 42 The Birmingham Post on 26 April 1919 reported that eight professionals had been appointed. The five ‘old hands’ listed were W.G.Quaife, C.S.Baker, C.Charlesworth, L.T.A.Bates and H.Howell; the newcomers were V.V.Luckin (who had previously played for Hampshire), H.Austin and E.Suckling. The omission of E.J.Smith from the paper’s list of retained professionals is surprising, and may be simply an error on the newspaper’s part. I have assumed that he was included on the county’s staff right from the start of the season – he certainly played in the very first match. 43 Birmingham Mail , 31 July 1919 Warwickshire in 1919