Having looked at those players who were either born or died 100 years ago Paul Dyson turns his attention to those who played in their first or last matches for Yorkshire in 1920. The photo of David Denton, taken in 1920, comes courtesy of Mick Pope.
May 15th, 1920 was the date of the debut of Bill Featherby; his Yorkshire career did not last long – it was all over on June 3rd after just two games – against Derbyshire and Worcestershire. Both matches were won by an innings; he did not get to the wicket at all and as the main bowlers were being so successful he was given a total of a mere four overs. Born in Goodmanham Lodge, Market Weighton in 1888, he died there 70 years later. A useful off-spinner, most of his club cricket was played in east Yorkshire – for Bridlington, East Riding and Londesborough Park where he was still in action at the age of 85.
A month later Albert Judson fared even worse than Featherby had done as he played in only one match for Yorkshire and that lasted for a mere 25 minutes! At Bramall Lane on July 3rd Kent scored 36 for no wicket from ten overs, one of which was bowled by Judson, and that was that – both for his first-class career and the game itself. Born in Cullingworth, Bingley in 1885, he was another one who did not stray far from his roots, dying in Bingley in 1975 just three months short of his 90th birthday. Judson was an accurate fast-medium bowler who was professional at Keighley for three seasons from 1924 but then played for Bingley for 23 years. For the two clubs he scored over 3,500 runs and took almost 1,300 wickets. His day-job was that of a railway clerk but he eventually lost his sight and died at a home for the blind.
