The Twelfth Man 2020

Yorkshire in 1924: Waddington front row left ‘stopped to dispute the [run out] verdict violently, then ran to the pavilion amidst wild outcries.’ Afterwards, Waddington wrote to Athletic News to explain, but the paper was unconvinced. It is the events of July 1924 against Mid- dlesex at Sheffield for which Abe Wad- dington is perhaps best known. Here he was at the centre of three incidents which provoked the crowd, resulted in an MCC inquiry into Waddington’s be- haviour, and briefly led to Middlesex deciding not to play Yorkshire in 1925. The incidents came at a time when there was growing concern about the behav- iour of players - after Cecil Parkin pub- licly criticised the England captain, A.E.R. Gilligan - and increasingly vocal crowds. Waddington was called to Lord’s to defend himself, but the umpires’ com- plaints were upheld. Lord Hawke warned Waddington about his future behaviour and he publicly apologised. The immediate ‘crisis’ was resolved, and Yorkshire did play Middlesex in 1925, although the issues highlighted some resentment about Yorkshire’s style of play. In the face of stern moralising from grandees of the game, however, it is hard not to see Waddington as a bit of a scapegoat, or at least that he was being used by the cricket authorities to warn others about behaviour. After his injury in 1923, Abe Waddington was never quite the same again, and he played his final Yorkshire game in 1927. He and Arthur Dolphin were offered engagements which attached them to a county ground and meant they would be available as and when needed. As ever, Waddington knew his own mind, and stated emphatically that he would ‘not consent to be…at the call of the county when I was required. So far as the county is concerned, when I’ve fin- ished, I’ve finished. That’s all.’ Yorkshire granted Waddington £1,000, and he played league cricket in West Bromwich and Accrington, retiring in 1930 to take over the family fat-refining business with his brothers. In later life, Abe Waddington continued to play golf to a very high standard and died in Scar- borough in 1959 after a long illness. In a world where cricket professionals were expected to conform and show defer- ence, Waddington was a man of spirit and individuality who knew his own worth. Jeremy Lonsdale’s forthcoming book ‘ A Game Divided: Triumphs and Troubles in Yorkshire county cricket in the 1920s ’, to be published in November 2020 by the Association of Cricket Statisticians at www.acscricket.com . Twitter @lonsdale_jeremy 32 33 “ After his injury in 1923, Abe Waddington was never quite the same again.. [he] stated emphatically that he would ‘not consent to be…at the call of the county when I was required. So far as the county is concerned, when I’ve finished, I’ve finished. That’s all.’