Cricket Witness No 4 - Women at the WIcket

138 Betty Archdale, the former-England captain and international lawyer, served in as an officer in the Women’s Royal Naval Service. She worked in Singapore, Mombasa, Colombo and Bahrain, where she played mixed-sex hockey and cricket whenever she had the opportunity. Opening batsman Myrtle Maclagan rose to the position of platoon commander for 13 companies in Aldershot, where she organised games of cricket against the male officers; while Lancashire Women’s Cricket Federation batsman Joan Wilkinson served as a flight sergeant in Burnley. 2 Unlike the First World War, however, the conflict was a hammer blow for the sport which halted its advance for decades. Most teams affiliated to the WCA disbanded during the Second World War, and many schools also stopped playing. Sides that did continue found it hard to find fixtures, and resources remained scarce. Many cricket grounds were used to grow food vital for the war effort, and post-war rationing meant this was not readily abandoned in 1945. Where pitches were available men’s games were prioritised, and clubs without cabbage patches on their outfield and soldiers billeted in their pavilion were reluctant for women to play. At grassroots level, resources were simply too limited to make way for the ‘fair sex’. As a result, many sides lost their permanent home ground and became ‘wandering’ clubs, scratching a few fixtures a year wherever possible. Some schools dropped the sport altogether and others failed to resume playing after the war, or like Twickenham County School, ended cricket as a compulsory subject. St. Paul’s Girls’ School in Hammersmith played rounders as they had insufficient time to prepare pitches during the war, and their cricket nets were replaced by an Anderson Shelter. 3 Some exceptions existed. At Royal Holloway College in Surrey, students continued to play throughout the war while other sports struggled, but matches were hard to arrange, travelling to fixtures difficult, and training sessions rarely occurred. Gunnersbury Cricket Club amalgamated with other local London sides to scratch a team together. It was only after 1943 that some organised cricket took place between branches of the armed services. The Women’s Auxiliary Air Force organised an internal cup competition, while women in the navy took part in games throughout the world, including in South Africa. Mixed-sex games between the armed services were regularly played at Bedford College’s Headstone Lane ground. The WCA arranged some charity games, but the sport never came close to matching peacetime levels of participation. 4 The diaries of West Sussex Land Army girl Muriel Merritt, who was 20 when she joined in 1942, reveal how despite long, labour-intensive hours, she still yearned to play the game after a hard day’s work. Matches were usually hastily arranged affairs against anybody local that could spare the time – the Post Office, women’s armed services, schools or just other Land Army girls. Usually she played without 22 players and with improvised clothing and equipment. Although Muriel heard doodlebugs and bombers flying overhead, these dark days did not break her spirit, or her pursuit of wickets. 5 Experiences of war changed the meaning of women’s citizenship in Conclusion - War Again, and its Aftermath