Chapter Twenty-One Wallflowers Like wallflowers without a partner at an old-fashioned dance, Essex and Worcestershire faced Hobson’s choice when the holiday fixtures were drawn up for the 1920 season. In 1919 Worcestershire’s absence from the Championship halted their matches with Warwickshire, who arranged to play Derbyshire instead. Essex had met Kent in 1919 but the Kent-Hampshire fixtures of 1920 left the returning Worcestershire as the alternative. Otherwise there was no reason, traditional or geographical, for Essex and Worcestershire to play each other at such times. They had met on only six previous occasions, in 1910, 1911 and 1914, with Essex winning three of the games and Worcestershire one. Furthermore, Worcestershire’s disastrous record in 1920 meant they were hardly the most sought-after of holiday opponents. It was an unpromising start to a new relationship but a long and fruitful association developed, initially centring on Leyton at Whitsun and Worcester in August. Unsurprisingly, Essex won both the 1920 encounters with ease, although Worcestershire made them fight hard for a time at Leyton. On Whit Monday, Bowley, nowwell into the veteran stage, made 131, full of stylish drives and cuts, Pearson got 87 and although Perrin made 72, Essex, at 305 for seven, were still 26 behind on the second day. But Douglas scored 128, McGahey and Reeves added 121 in 80 minutes for the ninth wicket and the total reached 501. Douglas and Reeves then bowledWorcestershire out for 119, Essex winning by an innings and 51 runs. At Worcester, the margin increased to an innings and 242 runs in the August Bank Holiday match after Essex made 500, Douglas, en route to a double and the captaincy of MCC in Australia, getting 147. Poor Worcestershire had no luck; Essex ended Saturday on 405 for three and then the home side had to contend with stoppages for rain on Monday. Joseph Dixon, an amateur all-rounder who had been at Felsted before the war, took five for 53 and six for 47 with his fast medium bowling. Essex generally fared better than Worcestershire during the inter-war period. Their lowest placing was 16th in 1928, with a highest of fourth in 1933 and 1939. The pitch at Leyton usually ensured stacks of runs but the county relinquished their lease on the ground at the end of the 1933 season and became a wandering club. There were mixed feelings. They had played there since leaving Brentwood in 1885 and Leyton, for all its trams and dinginess, had something about it. Charles Bray, who captained Essex on occasion but became better known as the cricket correspondent of The Daily Herald , wrote: “It was a bold move but one that proved to be successful. At the same time all those who had played on the old Leyton ground left it with regret. It certainly did not have beauty or charm, its wickets over a long period were far too much in favour of the batsmen and on a cheerless day it looked, and indeed was, a miserable place. Yet it had a character of its own.” The team, too, had character. Douglas was, for some years, the best allrounder in the country and the batting was usually strong, with Jack Russell, Jack O’Connor, a fine wicket-keeper batsman in Jack Freeman and, later on, 96