Lives in Cricket No 5 - Rockley Wilson

Chapter Eight First-Class Cricket After the War The First World War brought fundamental changes to British society. The trades unions and the Labour Party emerged much strengthened, and on both the industrial and the political fronts there was growing pressure for improvements in the conditions of working people. Women who had worked in their thousands during the War on farms, in factories and in hospitals were no longer willing to accept the subservient status they had generally had in Edwardian society. These developments, coupled with high taxation and inflation, bore heavily on the upper class. Men – less so women – without the benefit of wealth and property could aspire to leading positions in politics, industry and the professions. Britain was inching her way towards a more democratic and egalitarian society. But little changed in cricket. At Lord’s, the officers and committees of MCC continued to be filled very largely by men of rank and privilege. There was no place for women. The position was similar in many county clubs. Oxford v Cambridge, Eton v Harrow and Marlborough v Winchester were still major fixtures in the cricket and social calendar. The ranks of the amateurs in first-class cricket were much reduced after the War, but most County elevens included at least some amateurs and all would have an amateur captain, indeed would do so with minor exceptions, until after the Second World War. The amateurs still typically travelled, dined and were accommodated separately from their professional team-mates. Indeed cricket was organised after the War much as it had been in Edwardian times. Two-day cricket There was one innovation for the 1919 season. The experiment was tried of limiting County Championship matches to two days instead of three and extending the hours of play on each day, taking advantage of the wartime daylight saving scheme. The hope was that the change would encourage people to go to grounds after work and so would lead to larger attendances. Rockley 69