Cricket Witness No 4 - Women at the WIcket

142 Conclusion - War Again, and its Aftermath the image of youthful frivolity it generated. Very few married women played the game, and no challenge was mounted to either men’s cricket or women’s place in the home. The previously uncivilised, ‘Amazon’ women succeeded in proving the civic value of the game to many of their doubters. Nonetheless, establishing cricket as a legitimate, beneficial and desirable sport was never an inevitable trajectory of progress. The Association’s top administrators were fully aware that the future of the game was never assured, especially in its formative years in the late 1920s. Social, financial, administrative and wartime pressures meant even sides with solid foundations and many players could not guarantee their survival. This was especially true of teams run for profit, but clubs also suffered from an absence of suitable facilities, or a scarcity of local teams to play against. Royal Holloway had been one of the first permanent sides in England when it formed a club in the later 1880s, but the sport’s popularity was sporadic and by 1910 it had folded, not to be revived until the summer of 1931. Rowntree’s had started a team in April 1912 and boasted five by September 1921, but then failed to raise a single team between 1924 and 1927. 11 Women’s cricket witnessed a sustained growth in its scale, scope and size, but heavily relied on factors outside of its control. From the need for sympathetic local men’s teams leasing their ground (if available) to workplace teams’ dependence on supportive employers, or schools’ reliance on enthusiastic games mistresses: the possibility of sides collapsing persistently endangered the sport’s future. After and during the Second World War, the Association experienced a significant drop in affiliated bodies and individual members. By 1945 the WCA had lost roughly 85% of its pre-war membership, and this took another six years to recover. The English Women’s Cricket Federation cut its 1939 season short due to the outbreak of war, and by 1940 were only playing friendly cricket. It did not continue after the war, and the remaining teams were eventually absorbed into the WCA. Post-war austerity was the greatest hindrance for many sides. Petrol rationing was particularly felt in rural areas where motor transport was the only method of travel, but other clubs complained of not being able to roll or prepare their wicket as a result. After May 1950, when petrol rationing was abandoned, the WCA experienced a boom in membership. Many teams were forced to improvise their clothing and equipment, for example by adapting overalls or white sheets as outfits due to the shortage of clothing. 12 Aided by a tour of Australia and New Zealand between October 1948 and May 1949, and a return visit by Australia in 1951, the Association recovered its strength and status by the mid-1950s, but in the long-term cricket was destined to linger on the periphery of women’s sport. The rapid rise of the game in the 1930s and 1950s was not matched again until the 21st century. Before the Second World War, cricket had helped women achieve recognition off the field as well as on it. Like in the economic and political arenas, they had also fought to liberate themselves physically and culturally. This was no narrative of preordained