English cricket was completely disrupted by World War I, and there were no first-class matches after August 1914 until May 1919. A similar situation arose in World War II with a shutdown of first-class cricket from September 1939 until the summer of 1945 when eleven matches were specially arranged; cricket returned to normal in 1946 with a full domestic programme and a Test series against India.
In the 21 seasons between the wars, England took part in 120 Test matches as part of fifteen home and thirteen away series. Several other first-class tours were organised by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), and by private individuals like Sir Julien Cahn and Lionel Tennyson. Having won The Ashes in 1926 and successfully defended them in 1928–29, England thereafter had to contend with Don Bradman, whose consistently high scoring was a key difference between England and Australia through the 1930s. Under the captaincy of Douglas Jardine in 1932–33, England controversially deployed so-called "leg theory", better known as "bodyline", in order to regain The Ashes, but almost caused an international incident in doing so.
Domestically, the only major tournament was the County Championship which in this period was mostly dominated by Yorkshire and Lancashire. Between them, they won seventeen of the 21 titles at stake, and the "Roses Match" became the most significant domestic fixture of the English season. Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire won one title each, and so Middlesex, with two, were the only southern champions of the inter-war period. Other domestic fixtures of note were the Champion County match (annual to 1935), Gentlemen v Players (annual), North v South (ten matches in nine seasons) and the University Match (annual).
Leading English players of the inter-war years included Wilfred Rhodes, Jack Hobbs, Frank Woolley, Bert Strudwick, Patsy Hendren, Tich Freeman, Maurice Tate, Herbert Sutcliffe, George Duckworth, Harold Larwood, Wally Hammond, Maurice Leyland, Les Ames, Hedley Verity, Len Hutton, and Denis Compton.
Post-war recovery (1919–1920) Two-day matches Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) remained the controlling body in English cricket throughout the inter-war period. After the end of World War I in November 1918, MCC and some of the first-class county clubs were determined to arrange a full County Championship programme for the 1919 season. Despite calls for radical innovation, they intended to change things "as little as possible", and the only change of note that they did introduce was the two-day match, instead of three-day.
The authorities faced heavy criticism for their rash decision to introduce the two-day format, especially from Wisden editor Sydney Pardon, who argued against holding the 1919 County Championship at all. Pardon pointed out that the county clubs faced many problems in dealing with post-war recovery, not least the question of who would be able to play for their teams, as the war had taken a heavy toll of first-class cricketers. Much depended on the availability of pre-war players who could resume their careers, and on finding new talent.
1919 County Championship The two-day format was "a complete failure". The weather was sunny in 1919, and that ensured good batting conditions. As a result, the majority of matches could not be completed in two days, and were drawn, as predicted by Pardon. Another factor was that the County Championship title had to be decided on a percentage basis, and that, also foreseen by Pardon, almost created a travesty. The sixteen clubs had to arrange their own fixtures at short notice, and Worcestershire decided not to compete. Northamptonshire and Somerset were able to arrange only twelve matches apiece, whereas Yorkshire played 26, and Lancashire 24.
Yorkshire won twelve of their matches for a percentage of 46.15%. They and Derbyshire were the only teams who managed more wins than draws. The disparity in matches played almost resulted in a false picture because Kent, who played only fourteen matches, had a percentage of 42.85%, and would have won the title if they could have taken one more wicket in their final match (which was drawn). Roy Webber commented that Yorkshire's title in such circumstances was "just".
Three-day matches were reinstated ahead of the 1920 County Championship.
Australian Imperial Forces tour An Australian Imperial Force Touring XI was formed ahead of the 1919 season from soldiers of the AIF who were still in Britain. The team toured the country between May and September, playing a total of 33 matches, of which 28 were first-class. They had a good record in their first-class fixtures—twelve wins, four defeats, and twelve draws. As with the county teams, their two-day matches resulted in a high number of draws.
The team included one major, four captains, a lieutenant, a warrant officer, and also three sergeants. Even so, they elected Herbie Collins, whose rank was lance corporal, as their team captain. Chris Harte wrote that the team "ignored all considerations of (military) rank", Collins "giving orders to seven commissioned officers without anyone questioning his authority". This would have been unthinkable in England, where the senior officer in a similar military team would automatically have assumed the team captaincy.
The strength of the AIF is illustrated by the fact that six of its players went on to represent Australia in Test cricket: Collins, Jack Gregory, Nip Pellew, Bertie Oldfield, Johnny Taylor, and Hammy Love.
1920 County Championship Recovery continued in 1920, and Worcestershire returned to the Championship. The counties played three-day matches, and there was a noticeable reduction in the number of draws. However, the number of matches played by each team was still at variance, ranging from 30 played by Sussex to 18 by Derbyshire and Worcestershire.
The title was again decided by percentage of matches won. Middlesex, leading the table just ahead of Lancashire, needed to beat Surrey at Lord's in their final match. They won by 55 runs with just ten minutes left, and took the title with a percentage of 77.00%. Lancashire had 74.61%. Middlesex played 20 matches with 15 wins; Lancashire played 28 and won 19.
"Preserving the natural order" In the aftermath of the First World War, more especially of the Russian Revolution, there were concerns at MCC and in the cricketing establishment generally about how times were changing. The three most prominent establishment figures were Lord Harris, Lord Hawke, and Pelham Warner who were determined that cricket in the 1920s should continue as before the war under the leadership of amateurs like themselves. As Derek Birley put it, they were intent on "preserving the natural order of things".
When the Lancashire professional Cec Parkin had the "temerity" to criticise the England captain Arthur Gilligan, Warner denounced him as "the first cricketing Bolshevik". It backfired on Warner. Even among his own amateur brethren there were many who asserted that Gilligan, a known fascist, was a waste of space whose selection over Surrey captain Percy Fender had been done because of "petty jealousies between MCC and Surrey".
Accusations flew back and forth. In the 1924–25 annual edition of The Cricketer (Warner's own magazine), Hawke, supported by Harris, stated that there was no such thing as class prejudice in cricket. Conversely, in his view, the problem was a shortage of amateurs, especially in the northern counties, and this had "led to a lack of enterprise" (Hawke give no rationale for that supposed outcome). During the same winter, while speaking at Yorkshire's annual dinner, Hawke responded to a published suggestion by Parkin—that Jack Hobbs should captain England—with his oft-misquoted plea:
Pray God that no professional may ever captain England!
Warner attempted to explain this away by saying that Hawke meant it would be "a bad day when no amateur was fit to play for England" and, that, in any case, an amateur was "better qualified" to shoulder the captain's "off-field responsibilities".
What Warner failed to understand was that it was not so much what Hawke said that mattered, but what Hawke was seen to represent. As Hawke's biographer James Coldham put it, Hawke was holding onto "the dead hand of the past". Warner again attacked Parkin, with the result that Lancashire, whose committee was pro-establishment, sacked Parkin in 1926.
International cricket Another of MCC's responsibilities was selection and management of the England team. Australia were England's main rivals, and The Ashes were contested in ten series between 1921 and 1938, five in England and five in Australia, infamously so in the "Bodyline" series of 1932–33. England played three home series against South Africa, and four in South Africa, including their last overseas tour before the Second World War.
In 1919, the International Cricket Conference had only its three original full members (Australia, England, and South Africa). The membership and, hence, the number of countries able to play Test cricket doubled on 31 May 1926 with the promotions of India, New Zealand, and the West Indies to full member status. England played each of these teams for the first time in the next few seasons. To 1939, there were three England v India series, two in England and one in India; four England v New Zealand series, two in each country; and five England v West Indies series, three of them in England, including 1939.
England v Australia England were outclassed by Australia in the first two series after the war but, by the middle of the 1920s, they had a team good enough to win and retain the Ashes. Don Bradman dominated the 1930 series and Douglas Jardine used the leg theory stratagem in 1932–33 to try to curb Bradman's massive run-scoring. It worked and England recovered the Ashes, but at enormous cost of cricketing prestige. With leg theory in disgrace, normal cricket resumed in 1934. Australia won back the Ashes and kept them until 1953, though England made a real fight of it in each of the 1934, 1936–37 and 1938 series.
England v South Africa England and South Africa were quite well matched throughout this period, and both teams enjoyed series wins at home and away. The last match between them before the war was the notorious "Timeless Test" at Kingsmead in March 1939. Despite the intention to play to a finish, it was agreed after nine days on the field to call it a draw, so that the England team could catch their boat home.
England v India England played India for the first time in 1932 when a single Test was staged. England won that match, and then won 2–0 in each of two three-match series (home and away) over the next four years.
England v New Zealand England's first Test series against New Zealand was in 1929–30. There were three more before the war and, though England won all four series, the majority of matches were drawn, and New Zealand did not win any.
England v West Indies England's first Test against West Indies was in 1928. Five series were played before the war including the one in 1939 which had just finished when the international crisis arose. England were mostly successful against West Indies, but not in 1934–35 when the home team recorded a 2–1 series victory.
The County Championship The inter-war period in the County Championship was dominated by the northern clubs. Yorkshire had won the two-day version in 1919 but then there was brief southern success with back-to-back victories by Middlesex in 1920 and 1921. In 1922, Yorkshire won the first of four successive titles to 1925. It was during the 1920s that the "Roses Match" was the most significant domestic fixture and Lancashire won four of the next five championships, their run interrupted by Nottinghamshire in 1929. Starting in 1931, Yorkshire won seven out of nine competitions to 1939, the other two titles going to Lancashire in 1934 and to the fourth northern club Derbyshire in 1936.