the twilight of his career, still a hard-hitting batsman. Audaciously Briggs tossed the ball up, “a ball which, as Uncle Walter said would have tempted the Archangel Gabriel.” Ulyett relished the challenge and the opportunity to end the match with a single blow. Away it soared, aimed to clear the long-on boundary, only for Albert Ward to lean back and hold probably the most crucial catch of his career. Lancashire thus won a remarkable match by five runs. Briggs had figures of six for 35 and five for 25 while his great rival Peel, second in the line of Yorkshire’s remarkable succession of slow left-handers which also included Peate, Rhodes, Verity and Wardle, took four for 15 and six for 24. But Yorkshire had the last laugh, winning the title with Lancashire runners-up. Briggs and Peel were granted the Old Trafford and Bradford matches for their benefits in 1894 and the crowds flocked in during the following season: nearly 20,000 at Bramall Lane on Whit Monday, a record paying attendance of 25,331 at Old Trafford on August Bank Holiday Monday. Such drama and high gate receipts seemed to have permanently established the fixture over the two holidays but six years elapsed before the Whitsun crowds saw it again. Yorkshire gave their 1896 Whit dates to the Australians and found themselves without opponents in August as Lancashire and Kent exchanged visits. Canterbury proved a happy hunting ground for Archie MacLaren, 226 not out on his first appearance there in 1896 with 34 boundaries and 244 (38 boundaries) in 1897 when Briggs took six for 55 and seven for 80 in an innings victory. MacLaren made 76 in Alec Hearne’s benefit of 1898, when Johnny Tyldesley scored a hundred. Manchester lived up to its rainy reputation for three consecutive years, the 1899 Whit match being abandoned without a ball being bowled, but Cuthbert Burnup made 200 for Kent in 1900. For Yorkshire it seemed to be a case of who they could get: Warwickshire in 1897-98, a rain-ruined Sheffield to mar the Australians visit in 1899 at Whit with an August visit from Worcestershire offering some consolation, and nobody at all in 1900. It was 1901 before the Roses matches were restored to the holidays. This was a period when Yorkshire were supreme; three consecutive titles in 1900-02 and only two defeats, both at the hands of Somerset in 49 matches. Lancashire smarted in the wake of defeat at Old Trafford in 1901 and drew blood at Headingley two months later. The match, JT Brown’s benefit, was drawn but MacLaren and Ward made hundreds and Yorkshire had the worst of it. Things threatened to get out of hand on Monday when 30,891 packed the ground. Shorter boundaries were marked out to ease the congestion but it was 3.30pm before play could resume after lunch. Some writers, Thomson amongst them, cite 1902 as the most colourful and dramatic season in the history of the game. Yorkshire stormed to the Championship, 13 victories in 25 matches, defeated only by Somerset at Bramall Lane. Lancashire were fifth and received a thorough drubbing in the Whitsun match at Sheffield. The pitch was dire and Yorkshire’s 148 was enough for victory by an innings and 22 runs, Stanley Jackson enjoying a match analysis of eight for 13 in 10.2 overs with his lively medium pace and sharp off breaks and making the game’s highest score, 33. He fell to a catch at the wicket off the bowling of Sidney Barnes, plucked out of the Lancashire League and taken to Australia the previous winter by MacLaren. In the August return – Albert Ward’s benefit – Yorkshire were again in a strong position when the Old Trafford rain ruled out play on the last day. They dismissed Lancashire for 243, Schofield Haigh taking five for 62, and replied with 499 for five. David Denton and George Roses in Bud 36