The Summer Field

77 The Myth of the ‘Golden Age’ professional dentists and teachers, who were trained to do the skilled job. Like any professional, cricket journalists resented outside criticism. That was ironic, because journalists were, like Cardus, usually quick to find faults in players. In his 1967 obituary of Maurice Leyland, Cardus recalled Yorkshire batting at Old Trafford in 1933. The wicket at one end began to crumble on the first afternoon, but nobody in the ‘Press Box’ knew. Arthur Mitchell ‘stone-walled bitterly’ for 121 in six hours. ‘I wrote an ironical column describing this Spartan innings. Next day I met Maurice. Tha’s written a funny article in Guardian , this morning, he said. Thank you Maurice, I am glad you liked it. Aye, he said, and tha’ll have to write a funnier one for tomorrow.’ George Macaulay bowled Lancashire out for 93 and 92 and Yorkshire won by an innings; thanks to Mitchell’s slow, not golden, but skilful batting. Long after the event, Cardus admitted his ignorance; needless to say, in the Manchester Guardian at the time, Cardus did not mention that conversation with Leyland. The power of a journalist lay in what he could ignore, not only what he could say.