The Twelfth Man 2020

100 years ago, Yorkshire County Cricket Club enjoyed one of its periods of great success. In the first season after the war, 1919, the club won the county championship. The following summer it was in a five-county race for the title, and in 1921 finished strongly despite losing out again to Middlesex. Thereaf- ter, the Yorkshire side won the cham- pionship in four successive seasons, breaking records and dividing opinions with its highly professional approach. This was the period of Holmes and Sut- cliffe, of Rhodes, Leyland, Macaulay, Robinson, the Kilners, Dolphin and Old- royd. It was a team of great talents and big personalities, but to my mind the most interesting was Abram Wadding- ton, who took 835 wickets for Yorkshire and was a superb fielder. Waddington was a key figure in the early 1920s until injury reduced his effectiveness, and he was also unusually willing to challenge the expectations of how professionals of the day should behave. Born in 1893, Waddington’s life was changed by the First World War. He was in the 1st ‘Bradford Pals’ and in a remarkable coincidence, held fellow Yorkshire cricketer Major Booth as he died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme in July 1916. Waddington himself was wounded in the attack on Serre and later transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, until discharged in March 1919. His war-time experiences affect- ed him greatly and must have shaped his perspectives on many things and he continued to have nightmares about his experiences for the rest of life. After the war, Waddington had one of the most meteoric rises ever in first- class cricket. He made his debut in ear- ly July 1919 and by late August had 100 first-class wickets and received his coun- ty cap for his contribution to the cham- Abe Waddington The ‘captivating’ Abe Waddington In a team of Yorkshire greats such as Holmes, Sutcliffe, Rhodes and Leyland was an often overlooked player, Abram Waddington . Jeremy Lonsdale looks at his considerable contribution… 30 31