Double Headers

81 Other instances in the British Isles class (see, for example, the Introduction to Roy D.Wilkinson’s Yorkshire County Cricket Club First-class Records 1863-1996, Limlow Books, 1997). However, this view was rejected by the ACS when agreeing the list of first- class matches in Britain in the late 1970s, for reasons explained as follows: “The Yorkshire performances in this game are included in the averages in both Lillywhite annuals and in Wisden . The Scottish side was in fact ‘Gents of Edinburgh’ and as A Scotland XI [sic] was playing An England XI on the same date, this Yorkshire match is so obviously below first-class standard that it is not included as first-class. Yorkshire continued to play Scotland in the 1880s, but none of the annuals rank these games as first-class”. 75 Given the ACS’s eventual view on the Warwickshire v Worcestershire match at Edgbaston in 1919, and the fact that the Scotland team that faced a virtually full-strength Yorkshire side included many of the country’s best cricketers, this conclusion might be open to criticism on grounds of inconsistency and factual inaccuracy. But this is not the place to pursue such a criticism. For even if the ACS conclusion were demonstrated to be unsound, this would not create a new double header, as - rightly or wrongly - there never seems to have been any suggestion that the match at Merchiston Castle School should be considered as first-class. 75 British Isles First Class Matches , ACS Publications, 1976