1965 before the last match of all was played, Blackpool defeating Blackburn Rovers 4-2) they were consigned to history. Hindsight found flaws. Although nobody can control the weather, it might have made more sense to move Spring Bank Holiday into early June, when it was, on average, warmer and sunnier. Similarly in August, nobody seemed to have considered that sunset was around an hour earlier at the end of the month than at the beginning. There was also a bit of the closing the stable door about the August decision. By the time of the change the number of people going abroad for their holidays had doubled within ten years and would continue to increase, with correspondingly fewer holidaying in British resorts. There was some regret that by removing the Bank Holiday, the quality of Whitsuntide had been eroded, although had it remained as such, some of the traditional local parades and customs would have vanished into the mists of time, as these things do. But what of cricket? In 1964 the Advisory County Cricket Committee agreed that a new arrangement regarding Bank Holiday matches with the touring team in years when tours were not shared – such as New Zealand and South Africa in 1965 – should be made. It was decided that in 1966 no county should have more than one match against the touring team, in this case the West Indies. This meant that Glamorgan would not play the tourists on both Whit and August Bank Holidays in 1966 and, in turn, some reorganisation of the traditional Bank Holiday matches would be necessary. As an experiment in 1966, a ballot would take place to decide which counties should play the touring team over the two Bank Holidays. Six counties – Gloucestershire-Somerset, Lancashire-Yorkshire and Middlesex- Sussex – wanted to continue with their traditional holiday matches and would not be entered in the ballot. The eleven remaining counties would meet the tourists over the two holidays or play in a reorganised programme of matches. There were mixed feelings and Rowland Bowen’s response in The Cricket Quarterly was typically abrasive. The magazine said that the four counties which played two matches against tourists in the last 40 years or so had been Lancashire, Surrey, Yorkshire and Glamorgan. “We have never been able to see why Glamorgan should have both Bank Holiday fixtures, and the only reason – and it is a good one - why she should have one is that large crowds can be obtained from the surrounding industrial and mining areas.” As for the other three counties, it urged MCC to reconsider, given the revenue accruing from such matches. Restricting them to only one game per tour would be counter-productive. “This leads us to a few remarks on Bank Holiday fixtures,” the magazine continued. “How absurd it is that there should be a ballot for these games! Has equality ever been more illogical in its pretentions? Can it really be supposed that a Bank Holiday match in Leicester or Northampton can ever hope to provide the gross gate which can be obtained at The Oval or Trent Bridge or Birmingham or indeed Cardiff? The idea has only to be stated for it to be exposed. Here are our administrators anxious to earn money for the game and wilfully throwing it away in pursuit of a non-existent equality of counties. Let there be a rota of counties for Bank Holiday matches, but let it be confined to those who can be expected to provide a sizeable gate. “ In 1966, August Bank Holiday fell on 29 August. The committee felt this was late in the season and therefore not so desirable for big cricket as it had been when it was earlier in the month. If the Government should go back to the original date, Changing the Dates 180