Abe Waddington
Encyclopedia
Abraham "Abe" Waddington, sometimes known as Abram Waddington (4 February 1893 – 28 October 1959), was a professional cricket
er for Yorkshire
, who played in two Test matches
for England against Australia
in 1920–21. Between 1919 and 1927 Waddington made 255 appearances for Yorkshire, and in all first-class cricket
played in 266 first-class matches. In these games, he took a total of 852 wickets with his left arm fast-medium bowling.
Waddington first played for Yorkshire after the First World War
, when the team had been weakened by injuries and retirements. He made an immediate impression in his first season, 1919, taking 100 wickets; after a similarly successful season in 1920 he was selected for the 1920–21 Marylebone Cricket Club
(MCC) tour of Australia. On the tour Waddington appeared in two of the five Tests. However, the England team were outclassed; used in an unfamiliar tactical role, Waddington took just one wicket in his two Tests, and never played for England again. At home, his reputation as a hostile, uncompromising opponent was cemented by incidents in 1924, but a succession of injuries reduced his effectiveness before his retirement from first-class cricket in 1927. He continued to play at a lower level and worked for the family business, maintaining his connection with Yorkshire cricket. Waddington was successful in other sports, notably golf
and football.
, Bradford
on 4 February 1893, the eldest of three brothers. His family owned a fat refining business managed by his father. Once he left school, Waddington joined the family firm as a lorry driver, occasionally working in the factory. He had begun playing cricket for Crossley Hall in the West Bradford League at the age of 11; as a teenager he played in the Bradford League
for Lidget Green, and later, Laisterdyke, gaining a local reputation aas a fast-medium bowler. He helped Laisterdyke win the League championship in 1913, before moving to Wakefield for the 1914 season, where he took 98 wickets at an average of 12.00. As a result he was selected to play in a Yorkshire Second XI match in August 1914, alongside future First XI teammates Herbert Sutcliffe
and Cec Tyson. Waddington was unsuccessful in this match, conceding 54 runs
in nine overs
without taking a wicket. The outbreak of the First World War prevented him making any further appearances for the county.
When war was declared, Waddington volunteered for Lord Kitchener's New Army
, joining the Bradford Pals battalion
of the West Yorkshire Regiment. He first served overseas as part of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force
from 30 December 1915. On 1 July 1916, during the first day of the Battle of the Somme, Waddington was wounded by shrapnel at Serre, and took shelter in a crater in no man's land with other wounded soldiers. One of these was the Yorkshire
cricketer Major Booth
, who was critically wounded. Waddington comforted Booth and the cricketer died in his arms, an experience which haunted Waddington for the rest of his life. After recovering, Waddington transferred to the Royal Flying Corps
.
died from illness in 1919, Schofield Haigh
had retired and George Hirst was past his best. Although Wilfred Rhodes
was able to ease the shortfall by resuming his career as a frontline bowler, Yorkshire needed to recruit new bowlers, particularly pacemen.
Yorkshire cricketers Roy Kilner
and Arthur Dolphin
were also wounded at the Somme. In 1919, they recommended Waddington to the Yorkshire committee, probably after seeing him take part in cricket matches in the army. Having returned to play for Laisterdyke in the Bradford League, Waddington was called into the Yorkshire side half-way through the 1919 season for the County Championship
match against Derbyshire
. On his first-class debut, he took four wickets for 26 runs in 26 overs, and after missing the next match, he followed up with nine wickets against Essex
in his second game, taking his first five wicket haul in the second innings of that match. Regularly taking three or more wickets in an innings, his performances peaked when he took twelve wickets in the match against Gloucestershire
. Although Waddington was less effective towards the end of the season, he finished with 100 wickets at an average
of 18.74, with eight five-wicket returns. Waddington was only the sixth bowler in first-class cricket history to reach 100 wickets in his debut year; his bowling played a large part in Yorkshire's winning the 1919 County Championship.
In 1920 Waddington continued the productive start to his career. Although Yorkshire fell to fourth in the Championship, and had no effective opening bowlers to support him, Waddington took 141 wickets in the season at an average of 16.79, taking five or more wickets in an innings 13 times. In his first four matches he took 28 wickets, but his most productive spells came in late June and throughout July. Against Leicestershire
, he took seven for 25 and ended the match with 12 wickets; against Northamptonshire
, he took 11 wickets in the first game and bowled throughout both innings of the second to take 13 wickets for 48 runs, including seven for 18 in the first innings and a hat-trick. Waddington's season concluded with selection for the Players against the Gentlemen
in the Scarborough Festival
, and although he took just one wicket in the match he was one of four players from Yorkshire chosen to tour Australia that winter with the MCC.
stated that the "chief cause of failure was the bowling". The MCC had been reluctant to tour so soon after the war, and critics had predicted the bowling would be weak in Australian playing conditions.
At the beginning of November, before the first-class matches began, Waddington was operated on for abscesses, and missed over a month of cricket. He played only one first-class match before the first Test, but took wickets in several minor matches. Selected for the first Test, he took the first wicket to fall in the game, that of Charlie Macartney, but failed to take another wicket in the match while conceding 88 runs, hampered by a leg injury in the later stages. He did not play another Test until the fourth, where he bowled five overs for 31 runs. Waddington ended the tour with seven wickets at an average of 46.71; his single one Test wicket was at a cost of 119 runs.
The tour was a frustrating experience for Waddington. In all matches, he headed the bowling averages, but was unhappy that most of his appearances came in the non-first-class country matches, many against opponents fielding more than eleven players to make a more even fight. Throughout the tour, the press criticised MCC captain Johnny Douglas
for the way he used bowlers. Although Yorkshire used Waddington in short bursts with the objective of taking wickets, Douglas used him to bowl long spells with the prime objective of defensive, run-saving bowling, a task to which Waddington was unsuited. After the tour, Waddington did not play for England again and was never seriously considered for a recall.
In 1921, Waddington took 105 wickets at an average of 18.94, not reaching ten wickets in any of the matches he played. He took time to find his form, taking few wickets in the first games. At the beginning of July, he took 28 wickets in four matches, but in the last part of the season, he had little success. However, the introduction of pace bowler George Macaulay
into the team gave Waddington more support in leading the attack than he had previously enjoyed. Yorkshire were third in the Championship in 1921; in the following season they won the first of four successive titles. Waddington made another slow start to the 1922 season, bowling 46 overs in the first three matches and taking just six wickets. In contrast, in the next two matches he took seven for 31 against Derbyshire, collecting 11 wickets in the game, and eight for 34 against Northamptonshire, the best figures of his career. After a lean few games, Waddington took 34 wickets in four matches, including 11 against Kent
. Later in the season, he took seven wickets for six runs in a Sussex
total of 20, ten wickets in the second game against Kent, and eight for 35 against Hampshire
. His season ended with festival games at Eastbourne
, where he represented the North against the South and played for a team of ex-Royal Air Force
servicemen. In all first-class games in 1922, Waddington took 133 wickets at an average of 16.08, improving on his 1921 average and aggregate.
and ten wickets in the match against Northamptonshire. By the middle of July, he had taken 65 wickets at an average of 17.92. However, he injured his shoulder while fielding against Leicestershire, which kept him out of cricket for the rest of the season, apart from an abortive comeback against Lancashire
in which he bowled six wicketless overs. Although Waddington resumed playing in 1924, the injury affected the remainder of his career and his bowling was never as effective as it had been.
On his return in 1924, Waddington bowled only 36 overs in his first five matches, taking one wicket. However, he was used more in Yorkshire's defeat against Middlesex
at Lord's Cricket Ground
where he bowled 42 overs to take three for 116. Several Yorkshire players were absent, playing representative matches, but the game had consequences later in the season. In the return match at Bramall Lane, Sheffield in July, the Yorkshire players seemed determined to have revenge on Middlesex for the Lord's defeat, but could only secure a draw. Critics thought that the Yorkshire bowlers appealed
excessively to the umpires
, while the Middlesex players were barracked by the crowd. Journalist Alfred Pullin
described the match as "a sorry exhibition of ill feeling and bad manners." The umpires reported Waddington to the Cricket committee of the MCC for inciting the crowd through his appeals and gestures of displeasure when batsmen were not given out. Although Waddington claimed to be innocent, the MCC supported the umpires, finding Waddington guilty of dissent. Yorkshire president Lord Hawke
persuaded Waddington to write a letter of apology to the MCC secretary. After the game, Middlesex threatened to cancel their future matches against Yorkshire; rumours circulated that the Yorkshire captain Geoffrey Wilson
had offered to resign and that Waddington would be dropped. However, after intervention by former Yorkshire player Rockley Wilson
, Middlesex withdrew the threat, and the Yorkshire–Middlesex match at Leeds the following season raised a record amount for Roy Kilner's benefit
. Geoffrey Wilson resigned at the end of the season, and Waddington continued in the team. Nevertheless, the circumstances of this match probably cost Macaulay a place in the England Test team, and stories continued to spread. Bill Bowes
later recalled that Waddington was accused of having deliberately tripped and injured a Middlesex player, J. W. Hearne, around this period, although he did not specify if it was the 1924 Sheffield match. Waddington ended the season with 69 wickets at an average of 21.55, but passed five wickets in only three innings and appeared less effective than before his injury.
. Although his form was mixed, he achieved some good performances. He took ten wickets in the match against Glamorgan, and took five wickets in an innings on four occasions. In total, he took 109 wickets at an average of 20.24. Over the next two seasons, Waddington's bowling declined. In 1926
he took 78 wickets at an average of 23.30, and after coaching in India in the winter of 1926–27, he took 45 wickets at 32.02 in his final season of 1927
. On many occasions, he was expensive, and he took five wickets on just three occasions over the two seasons. However, in his last season, he scored his only first-class century, 114 against Worcestershire
. His final first-class appearance was for the North against the South at the Folkestone Festival, where he bowled 16 overs without taking a wicket. At the end of the season, Waddington was offered a new contract despite his decline in bowling and continuing problems from his injured shoulder but declined, ending his county cricket career. In all first-class matches, Waddington took 852 wickets at an average of 19.75 and scored 2,527 runs at an average of 12.89 with four fifties as well as the century.
while his action
made the ball swing away from the batsman. For variation, he bowled an off cutter
and when he bowled, the ball seemed to increase its speed after bouncing. He often bowled around the wicket. His run-up
began from the on side
of the wicket, and he ran behind the umpire. He then bowled from the corner of the bowling crease, creating a sharp angle for the batsman to face, sometimes using short pitched bowling
with a ring of leg side fielders
. Waddington modelled his bowling on that of George Hirst, who also acted as a coach and mentor to him in his early career.
His bowling action was noted for its excellence and perfection. Neville Cardus
, a journalist and cricket writer, described it as "gloriously rhythmical", and "so lovely that one simply cannot deny he is a good bowler."
Waddington resented the class divisions in English cricket, his feelings fuelled by experiences of officers in the war and possibly his tour to Australia in 1920–21. He questioned the decisions of umpires and sledged
opposing batsmen, both of which were unusual at the time. His Times obituary noted that some disagreements came because Waddington played to win and was an enthusiastic appealer
, although he was unlikely to win many appeals for leg before wicket
because of the angle at which he bowled. Cardus noted that he was "ever raising hopes that real greatness will come from him, only to disappoint again and again". Although Waddington scored a first-class century in his final season, he did not live up to his batting potential despite a good batting style; Herbert Sutcliffe
believed he could have been a leading batsman, but did not possess the patience to build an innings. Anthony Woodhouse, a cricket historian, describes him as a "wild and irresponsible ... quick-tempered individual". However, cricket writer Jim Kilburn wrote that "at his best, he was a magnificently hostile bowler with one of the most beautiful actions ever seen in cricket, and his pace and break-back were a problem for the greatest of batsmen".
in 1929 and 1930. He remained close to members of the Yorkshire team and was a pallbearer at Kilner's funeral in 1928. In 1954–55, Yorkshire player and England captain Len Hutton
invited Waddington to accompany the members of the MCC team to Australia who visited the grave of Hedley Verity
, the Yorkshire bowler who was killed in the Second World War. According to John Kaye, a journalist and friend of Verity, "It was one of the most touching moments of my life. Abe Waddington draped a Yorkshire tie around the gravestone and said: 'Well bowled, mi' old cobber.
Waddington had success in other sports, especially as an amateur football goalkeeper. He was with Bradford City
in the 1920–21 football season, but did not play a match for them. For the 1921–22 season, he played for Halifax Town
, making seven appearances in the Football League
. He was a good enough golf
er to represent Yorkshire, to partner Henry Cotton and to play in the qualifying rounds of the Open Championship
in 1935 and 1939. However, one Bradford golf club banned him after he poured a glass of beer over the captain, whom Waddington believed had used inappropriate language in front of a woman. A motorcycling enthusiast, he regularly attended the Isle of Man TT
, although his love of fast cars brought him trouble from the police at times.
After a long illness, Waddington died in a Scarborough nursing home on 28 October 1959 aged 65. He was cremated in Bradford.
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er for Yorkshire
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....
, who played in two Test matches
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
for England against Australia
Australian cricket team
The Australian cricket team is the national cricket team of Australia. It is the joint oldest team in Test cricket, having played in the first Test match in 1877...
in 1920–21. Between 1919 and 1927 Waddington made 255 appearances for Yorkshire, and in all first-class cricket
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
played in 266 first-class matches. In these games, he took a total of 852 wickets with his left arm fast-medium bowling.
Waddington first played for Yorkshire after the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, when the team had been weakened by injuries and retirements. He made an immediate impression in his first season, 1919, taking 100 wickets; after a similarly successful season in 1920 he was selected for the 1920–21 Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
(MCC) tour of Australia. On the tour Waddington appeared in two of the five Tests. However, the England team were outclassed; used in an unfamiliar tactical role, Waddington took just one wicket in his two Tests, and never played for England again. At home, his reputation as a hostile, uncompromising opponent was cemented by incidents in 1924, but a succession of injuries reduced his effectiveness before his retirement from first-class cricket in 1927. He continued to play at a lower level and worked for the family business, maintaining his connection with Yorkshire cricket. Waddington was successful in other sports, notably golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
and football.
Early life
Abraham Waddington was born in ClaytonClayton, West Yorkshire
Clayton is a civil parish in the City of Bradford metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England, situated 3 miles to the west of the city centre. It is listed in the Domesday Book, meaning it dates back to at least the 11th century and was privately owned from 1160 to 1866. It was noted for its...
, Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
on 4 February 1893, the eldest of three brothers. His family owned a fat refining business managed by his father. Once he left school, Waddington joined the family firm as a lorry driver, occasionally working in the factory. He had begun playing cricket for Crossley Hall in the West Bradford League at the age of 11; as a teenager he played in the Bradford League
Bradford League
The Bradford League was a football competition based in England. It sat at level 14 of the English football league system. The league was a feeder to the West Riding County Amateur Football League - in 2006 Dudley Hill Athletic made the step up to the higher level. It was sponsored by the local...
for Lidget Green, and later, Laisterdyke, gaining a local reputation aas a fast-medium bowler. He helped Laisterdyke win the League championship in 1913, before moving to Wakefield for the 1914 season, where he took 98 wickets at an average of 12.00. As a result he was selected to play in a Yorkshire Second XI match in August 1914, alongside future First XI teammates Herbert Sutcliffe
Herbert Sutcliffe
Herbert Sutcliffe was an English professional cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England as an opening batsman. Apart from one match in 1945, his first-class career spanned the period between the two World Wars...
and Cec Tyson. Waddington was unsuccessful in this match, conceding 54 runs
Run (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a run is the basic unit of scoring. Runs are scored by a batsman, and the aggregate of the scores of a team's batsmen constitutes the team's score. A batsman scoring 50 or 100 runs , or any higher multiple of 50 runs, is considered a particular achievement...
in nine overs
Over (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, an over is a set of six consecutive balls bowled in succession. An over is normally bowled by a single bowler. However, in the event of injury preventing a bowler from completing an over, it is completed by a teammate....
without taking a wicket. The outbreak of the First World War prevented him making any further appearances for the county.
When war was declared, Waddington volunteered for Lord Kitchener's New Army
Kitchener's Army
The New Army, often referred to as Kitchener's Army or, disparagingly, Kitchener's Mob, was an all-volunteer army formed in the United Kingdom following the outbreak of hostilities in the First World War...
, joining the Bradford Pals battalion
Pals battalion
The Pals battalions of World War I were specially constituted units of the British Army comprising men who had enlisted together in local recruiting drives, with the promise that they would be able to serve alongside their friends, neighbours and work colleagues , rather than being arbitrarily...
of the West Yorkshire Regiment. He first served overseas as part of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force
Mediterranean Expeditionary Force
The Mediterranean Expeditionary Force was part of the British Army during World War I, that commanded all Allied forces at Gallipoli and Salonika. This included the initial naval operation to force the straits of the Dardanelles. Its headquarters was formed in March 1915...
from 30 December 1915. On 1 July 1916, during the first day of the Battle of the Somme, Waddington was wounded by shrapnel at Serre, and took shelter in a crater in no man's land with other wounded soldiers. One of these was the Yorkshire
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....
cricketer Major Booth
Major Booth
This page is about an English Cricketer. For other persons named William Booth, see William Booth .Major William Booth was a cricketer who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 1908 and 1914, a season in which he was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the...
, who was critically wounded. Waddington comforted Booth and the cricketer died in his arms, an experience which haunted Waddington for the rest of his life. After recovering, Waddington transferred to the Royal Flying Corps
Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...
.
County debut
Yorkshire's bowling attack was severely depleted when cricket resumed in 1919. Of the team's previously successful bowlers, Booth had been killed in the war, Alonzo DrakeAlonzo Drake
Alonzo Drake was an English first-class cricketer who played 157 matches for Yorkshire between 1909 and 1914...
died from illness in 1919, Schofield Haigh
Schofield Haigh
Schofield Haigh was a Yorkshire and England cricketer. He played for eighteen seasons for Yorkshire County Cricket Club, for England from the 1898/99 tour to 1912, and was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1901....
had retired and George Hirst was past his best. Although Wilfred Rhodes
Wilfred Rhodes
Wilfred Rhodes was an English professional cricketer who played 58 Test matches for England between 1899 and 1930. In Tests, Rhodes took 127 wickets in and scored 2,325 runs, becoming the first Englishman to complete the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in Test matches...
was able to ease the shortfall by resuming his career as a frontline bowler, Yorkshire needed to recruit new bowlers, particularly pacemen.
Yorkshire cricketers Roy Kilner
Roy Kilner
Roy Kilner was an English professional cricketer who played nine Test matches for England between 1924 and 1926. An all-rounder, he played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 1911 and 1927. In all first-class matches, he scored 14,707 runs at an average of 30.01 and took 1,003 wickets at an...
and Arthur Dolphin
Arthur Dolphin
Arthur Dolphin was an English first-class cricketer, who kept wicket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 1905 and 1927...
were also wounded at the Somme. In 1919, they recommended Waddington to the Yorkshire committee, probably after seeing him take part in cricket matches in the army. Having returned to play for Laisterdyke in the Bradford League, Waddington was called into the Yorkshire side half-way through the 1919 season for the County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
match against Derbyshire
Derbyshire County Cricket Club
Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the England and Wales domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire...
. On his first-class debut, he took four wickets for 26 runs in 26 overs, and after missing the next match, he followed up with nine wickets against Essex
Essex County Cricket Club
Essex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...
in his second game, taking his first five wicket haul in the second innings of that match. Regularly taking three or more wickets in an innings, his performances peaked when he took twelve wickets in the match against Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators....
. Although Waddington was less effective towards the end of the season, he finished with 100 wickets at an average
Bowling average
Bowling average is a statistic measuring the performance of bowlers in the sport of cricket.A bowler's bowling average is defined as the total number of runs conceded by the bowlers divided by the number of wickets taken by the bowler, so the lower the average the better. It is similar to earned...
of 18.74, with eight five-wicket returns. Waddington was only the sixth bowler in first-class cricket history to reach 100 wickets in his debut year; his bowling played a large part in Yorkshire's winning the 1919 County Championship.
In 1920 Waddington continued the productive start to his career. Although Yorkshire fell to fourth in the Championship, and had no effective opening bowlers to support him, Waddington took 141 wickets in the season at an average of 16.79, taking five or more wickets in an innings 13 times. In his first four matches he took 28 wickets, but his most productive spells came in late June and throughout July. Against Leicestershire
Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland....
, he took seven for 25 and ended the match with 12 wickets; against Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club
Northamptonshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Northamptonshire. Its limited overs team is called the Northants Steelbacks. The traditional club colour is Maroon. During the...
, he took 11 wickets in the first game and bowled throughout both innings of the second to take 13 wickets for 48 runs, including seven for 18 in the first innings and a hat-trick. Waddington's season concluded with selection for the Players against the Gentlemen
Gentlemen v Players
The Gentlemen v Players game was a first-class cricket match that was generally played on an annual basis between one team consisting of amateurs and one of professionals . The first two games took place in 1806 but the fixture was not revived until 1819. It was more or less annual thereafter...
in the Scarborough Festival
Scarborough Festival
The Scarborough Festival is an end of season series of cricket matches featuring Yorkshire County Cricket Club which has been held in Scarborough, on the east coast of Yorkshire, since 1876. The ground, at North Marine Road, sees large crowds of holiday makers watching a mixture of first class...
, and although he took just one wicket in the match he was one of four players from Yorkshire chosen to tour Australia that winter with the MCC.
Test selection
The 1920–21 tour to Australia was unsuccessful for the tourists. In the Test matches, England were overwhelmed by Australia, losing all five games. Wisden Cricketers' AlmanackWisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
stated that the "chief cause of failure was the bowling". The MCC had been reluctant to tour so soon after the war, and critics had predicted the bowling would be weak in Australian playing conditions.
At the beginning of November, before the first-class matches began, Waddington was operated on for abscesses, and missed over a month of cricket. He played only one first-class match before the first Test, but took wickets in several minor matches. Selected for the first Test, he took the first wicket to fall in the game, that of Charlie Macartney, but failed to take another wicket in the match while conceding 88 runs, hampered by a leg injury in the later stages. He did not play another Test until the fourth, where he bowled five overs for 31 runs. Waddington ended the tour with seven wickets at an average of 46.71; his single one Test wicket was at a cost of 119 runs.
The tour was a frustrating experience for Waddington. In all matches, he headed the bowling averages, but was unhappy that most of his appearances came in the non-first-class country matches, many against opponents fielding more than eleven players to make a more even fight. Throughout the tour, the press criticised MCC captain Johnny Douglas
Johnny Douglas
John "Johnny" William Henry Tyler Douglas was a cricketer who was captain of the England team and an Olympic boxer.-Early life:...
for the way he used bowlers. Although Yorkshire used Waddington in short bursts with the objective of taking wickets, Douglas used him to bowl long spells with the prime objective of defensive, run-saving bowling, a task to which Waddington was unsuited. After the tour, Waddington did not play for England again and was never seriously considered for a recall.
In 1921, Waddington took 105 wickets at an average of 18.94, not reaching ten wickets in any of the matches he played. He took time to find his form, taking few wickets in the first games. At the beginning of July, he took 28 wickets in four matches, but in the last part of the season, he had little success. However, the introduction of pace bowler George Macaulay
George Macaulay
George Gibson Macaulay , was a professional English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 1920 and 1935. He played in eight Test matches for England from 1923 to 1933, achieving the rare feat of taking a wicket with his first ball in Test cricket...
into the team gave Waddington more support in leading the attack than he had previously enjoyed. Yorkshire were third in the Championship in 1921; in the following season they won the first of four successive titles. Waddington made another slow start to the 1922 season, bowling 46 overs in the first three matches and taking just six wickets. In contrast, in the next two matches he took seven for 31 against Derbyshire, collecting 11 wickets in the game, and eight for 34 against Northamptonshire, the best figures of his career. After a lean few games, Waddington took 34 wickets in four matches, including 11 against Kent
Kent County Cricket Club
Kent County Cricket Club is one of the 18 first class county county cricket clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the county of Kent...
. Later in the season, he took seven wickets for six runs in a Sussex
Sussex County Cricket Club
Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Sussex. The club was founded as a successor to Brighton Cricket Club which was a representative of the county of Sussex as a...
total of 20, ten wickets in the second game against Kent, and eight for 35 against Hampshire
Hampshire County Cricket Club
Hampshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Hampshire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1863 as a successor to the Hampshire county cricket teams and has played at the Antelope Ground from then until 1885, before moving to the County Ground where it...
. His season ended with festival games at Eastbourne
Eastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
, where he represented the North against the South and played for a team of ex-Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
servicemen. In all first-class games in 1922, Waddington took 133 wickets at an average of 16.08, improving on his 1921 average and aggregate.
Injury and controversy
After eight matches of the 1923, Waddington had taken just 12 wickets. His performances improved with six wickets against Cambridge UniversityCambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
and ten wickets in the match against Northamptonshire. By the middle of July, he had taken 65 wickets at an average of 17.92. However, he injured his shoulder while fielding against Leicestershire, which kept him out of cricket for the rest of the season, apart from an abortive comeback against Lancashire
Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...
in which he bowled six wicketless overs. Although Waddington resumed playing in 1924, the injury affected the remainder of his career and his bowling was never as effective as it had been.
On his return in 1924, Waddington bowled only 36 overs in his first five matches, taking one wicket. However, he was used more in Yorkshire's defeat against Middlesex
Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...
at Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...
where he bowled 42 overs to take three for 116. Several Yorkshire players were absent, playing representative matches, but the game had consequences later in the season. In the return match at Bramall Lane, Sheffield in July, the Yorkshire players seemed determined to have revenge on Middlesex for the Lord's defeat, but could only secure a draw. Critics thought that the Yorkshire bowlers appealed
Appeal (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, an appeal is the act of a player on the fielding team asking an umpire for a decision regarding whether a batsman is out or not. According to the Laws of Cricket, an umpire may not rule a batsman out unless the fielding side appeals...
excessively to the umpires
Umpire (cricket)
In cricket, an umpire is a person who has the authority to make judgements on the cricket field, according to the Laws of Cricket...
, while the Middlesex players were barracked by the crowd. Journalist Alfred Pullin
Alfred Pullin
Alfred William Pullin, known by the pseudonym Old Ebor , was a British sports journalist who wrote about rugby union and cricket. He wrote mainly for British newspapers the Yorkshire Post and the Yorkshire Evening Post...
described the match as "a sorry exhibition of ill feeling and bad manners." The umpires reported Waddington to the Cricket committee of the MCC for inciting the crowd through his appeals and gestures of displeasure when batsmen were not given out. Although Waddington claimed to be innocent, the MCC supported the umpires, finding Waddington guilty of dissent. Yorkshire president Lord Hawke
Martin Hawke, 7th Baron Hawke
Martin Bladen Hawke, 7th Baron Hawke of Towton , generally known as Lord Hawke, was an English amateur cricketer who played major roles in the sport's administration....
persuaded Waddington to write a letter of apology to the MCC secretary. After the game, Middlesex threatened to cancel their future matches against Yorkshire; rumours circulated that the Yorkshire captain Geoffrey Wilson
Geoffrey Wilson (cricketer)
Geoffrey Wilson was an English amateur first-class cricketer, who played ten matches for Cambridge University in 1919 and 1920, ninety two for Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 1919 and 1924, and thirteen more for the MCC in 1922/23 on a tour of Australia...
had offered to resign and that Waddington would be dropped. However, after intervention by former Yorkshire player Rockley Wilson
Rockley Wilson
Evelyn Rockley Wilson was an English amateur first-class cricketer, who played for Cambridge University Cricket Club, Yorkshire, and England.-Life:...
, Middlesex withdrew the threat, and the Yorkshire–Middlesex match at Leeds the following season raised a record amount for Roy Kilner's benefit
Benefit (sports)
A benefit or testimonial is a match or season of activities granted by a sporting body to a loyal sportsman to boost their income before retirement. Often this is in the form of a match for which all the ticket proceeds are given to the player in question.There have been occasions when a...
. Geoffrey Wilson resigned at the end of the season, and Waddington continued in the team. Nevertheless, the circumstances of this match probably cost Macaulay a place in the England Test team, and stories continued to spread. Bill Bowes
Bill Bowes
Bill Bowes was one of the best bowlers of the interwar period and, for a time, the most important force behind Yorkshire's dominance of the County Championship...
later recalled that Waddington was accused of having deliberately tripped and injured a Middlesex player, J. W. Hearne, around this period, although he did not specify if it was the 1924 Sheffield match. Waddington ended the season with 69 wickets at an average of 21.55, but passed five wickets in only three innings and appeared less effective than before his injury.
Decline
Waddington took more than 100 wickets in a season for the final time in 19251925 English cricket season
The 1925 English cricket season did not have a Test series and the focus was ostensibly upon the County Championship, except that proceedings were dominated by Jack Hobbs who scored a then-record 16 centuries and 3024 runs. Along the way, Hobbs equalled and then surpassed the career record for...
. Although his form was mixed, he achieved some good performances. He took ten wickets in the match against Glamorgan, and took five wickets in an innings on four occasions. In total, he took 109 wickets at an average of 20.24. Over the next two seasons, Waddington's bowling declined. In 1926
1926 English cricket season
The 1926 English cricket season saw England regain the Ashes. Lancashire overcame its eternal rivals and began a hat-trick sequence of county titles.-Honours:*County Championship - Lancashire*Minor Counties Championship - Durham...
he took 78 wickets at an average of 23.30, and after coaching in India in the winter of 1926–27, he took 45 wickets at 32.02 in his final season of 1927
1927 English cricket season
Five years before Bodyline, top of the averages in the 1927 English cricket season were Douglas Jardine and Harold Larwood. The season is notable for being the last one to date in which there was no Test series, apart from the years of World War II and 1970 .-Honours:*County...
. On many occasions, he was expensive, and he took five wickets on just three occasions over the two seasons. However, in his last season, he scored his only first-class century, 114 against Worcestershire
Worcestershire County Cricket Club
Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire...
. His final first-class appearance was for the North against the South at the Folkestone Festival, where he bowled 16 overs without taking a wicket. At the end of the season, Waddington was offered a new contract despite his decline in bowling and continuing problems from his injured shoulder but declined, ending his county cricket career. In all first-class matches, Waddington took 852 wickets at an average of 19.75 and scored 2,527 runs at an average of 12.89 with four fifties as well as the century.
Style and personality
Waddington bowled with control, maintaining a good lengthGood length ball
A good length ball is a type of delivery in cricket that pitches at a distance from the batsman that makes it difficult to score runs. Furthermore, such a delivery is difficult for the batsman to judge whether to play on the back-foot or on the front-foot...
while his action
Bowling action
In the sport of cricket, the bowling action is the set of movements that result in the bowler releasing the ball in the general direction of the batsman.The bowling action can be broken down into a number of parts:*Grip*Approach...
made the ball swing away from the batsman. For variation, he bowled an off cutter
Off cutter
An off cutter is a type of delivery in the game of cricket. It is bowled by fast bowlers.A bowler releases a normal fast delivery with the wrist locked in position and the first two fingers positioned on top of the cricket ball, giving it spin about a horizontal axis perpendicular to the length of...
and when he bowled, the ball seemed to increase its speed after bouncing. He often bowled around the wicket. His run-up
Run-up (cricket)
The term "run-up" is a cricketing term which refers to the approach a bowler makes when preparing to deliver the ball. The ball must be delivered from behind a bowling crease, but preparation to bowl the ball can be done any way the bowler wishes...
began from the on side
Leg side
The leg side, or on side, is defined to be a particular half of the field used to play the sport of cricket.From the point of view of a right-handed batsman facing the bowler, it is the left hand side of the cricket field...
of the wicket, and he ran behind the umpire. He then bowled from the corner of the bowling crease, creating a sharp angle for the batsman to face, sometimes using short pitched bowling
Bouncer (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a bouncer is a type of delivery, usually bowled by a fast bowler. It is pitched short so that it bounces on the pitch well short of the batsman and rears up to chest or head height as it reaches the batsman.Bouncers are used tactically to drive the batsman back on to his...
with a ring of leg side fielders
Leg theory
Leg theory is a bowling tactic in the sport of cricket. The term leg theory is somewhat archaic and seldom used any more, but the basic tactic still plays a part in modern cricket....
. Waddington modelled his bowling on that of George Hirst, who also acted as a coach and mentor to him in his early career.
His bowling action was noted for its excellence and perfection. Neville Cardus
Neville Cardus
Sir John Frederick Neville Cardus CBE was an English writer and critic, best known for his writing on music and cricket. For many years, he wrote for The Manchester Guardian. He was untrained in music, and his style of criticism was subjective, romantic and personal, in contrast with his critical...
, a journalist and cricket writer, described it as "gloriously rhythmical", and "so lovely that one simply cannot deny he is a good bowler."
Waddington resented the class divisions in English cricket, his feelings fuelled by experiences of officers in the war and possibly his tour to Australia in 1920–21. He questioned the decisions of umpires and sledged
Sledging (cricket)
Sledging is a term used in cricket to describe the practice whereby some players seek to gain an advantage by insulting or verbally intimidating the opposing player. The purpose is to try to weaken the opponent's concentration, thereby causing him to make mistakes or underperform...
opposing batsmen, both of which were unusual at the time. His Times obituary noted that some disagreements came because Waddington played to win and was an enthusiastic appealer
Appeal (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, an appeal is the act of a player on the fielding team asking an umpire for a decision regarding whether a batsman is out or not. According to the Laws of Cricket, an umpire may not rule a batsman out unless the fielding side appeals...
, although he was unlikely to win many appeals for leg before wicket
Leg before wicket
In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
because of the angle at which he bowled. Cardus noted that he was "ever raising hopes that real greatness will come from him, only to disappoint again and again". Although Waddington scored a first-class century in his final season, he did not live up to his batting potential despite a good batting style; Herbert Sutcliffe
Herbert Sutcliffe
Herbert Sutcliffe was an English professional cricketer who represented Yorkshire and England as an opening batsman. Apart from one match in 1945, his first-class career spanned the period between the two World Wars...
believed he could have been a leading batsman, but did not possess the patience to build an innings. Anthony Woodhouse, a cricket historian, describes him as a "wild and irresponsible ... quick-tempered individual". However, cricket writer Jim Kilburn wrote that "at his best, he was a magnificently hostile bowler with one of the most beautiful actions ever seen in cricket, and his pace and break-back were a problem for the greatest of batsmen".
Later life
Once Waddington had retired from Yorkshire, he fully took over the family business. He played league cricket for Bradford in 1928 and for AccringtonAccrington
Accrington is a town in Lancashire, within the borough of Hyndburn. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, north of Manchester city centre and is situated on the mostly culverted River Hyndburn...
in 1929 and 1930. He remained close to members of the Yorkshire team and was a pallbearer at Kilner's funeral in 1928. In 1954–55, Yorkshire player and England captain Len Hutton
Len Hutton
Sir Leonard "Len" Hutton was an English Test cricketer, who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England in the years around the Second World War as an opening batsman. He was described by Wisden Cricketer's Almanack as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket...
invited Waddington to accompany the members of the MCC team to Australia who visited the grave of Hedley Verity
Hedley Verity
Hedley Verity was a professional cricketer who played first-class cricket for Yorkshire and England between 1930 and 1939. A slow left arm orthodox bowler, he took 1,956 wickets in first-class cricket at an average of 14.90 and in 40 Tests he took 144 wickets at an average of 24.37...
, the Yorkshire bowler who was killed in the Second World War. According to John Kaye, a journalist and friend of Verity, "It was one of the most touching moments of my life. Abe Waddington draped a Yorkshire tie around the gravestone and said: 'Well bowled, mi' old cobber.
Waddington had success in other sports, especially as an amateur football goalkeeper. He was with Bradford City
Bradford City A.F.C.
Bradford City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, playing in League Two....
in the 1920–21 football season, but did not play a match for them. For the 1921–22 season, he played for Halifax Town
Halifax Town A.F.C.
Halifax Town Association Football Club were an English football team who most recently played in the Conference National, although prior to that they participated in the Football League for over eighty years...
, making seven appearances in the Football League
The Football League
The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...
. He was a good enough golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
er to represent Yorkshire, to partner Henry Cotton and to play in the qualifying rounds of the Open Championship
The Open Championship
The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...
in 1935 and 1939. However, one Bradford golf club banned him after he poured a glass of beer over the captain, whom Waddington believed had used inappropriate language in front of a woman. A motorcycling enthusiast, he regularly attended the Isle of Man TT
Isle of Man TT
The International Isle of Man TT Race is a motorcycle racing event held on the Isle of Man and was for many years the most prestigious motorcycle race in the world...
, although his love of fast cars brought him trouble from the police at times.
After a long illness, Waddington died in a Scarborough nursing home on 28 October 1959 aged 65. He was cremated in Bradford.