Portal:1920s/Featured article/3

The Yorkshire captaincy affair of 1927 arose from a disagreement among members of Yorkshire County Cricket Club over whether a professional cricketer should be appointed as the team captain. It was a tradition throughout English county cricket that captains should be amateurs. At Yorkshire, a succession of amateur captains held office in the 1920s, on the grounds of their supposed leadership qualities, although none were worth their place in the team as cricketers. The Yorkshire committee, prompted by the influential county president, Lord Hawke, approached Herbert Sutcliffe, one of the side's leading professionals. After Sutcliffe's provisional acceptance of the captaincy, controversy arose. Some Yorkshire members objected to the appointment because Sutcliffe was not an amateur; others felt that Wilfred Rhodes, the team's senior professional, should have been asked. When Sutcliffe became aware of the furore, he withdrew his acceptance. No offer was made to Rhodes, and the county subsequently appointed amateur William Worsley as captain; he had little personal success and lasted just two seasons.