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- 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 private individuals like Sir Julien Cahn and Lionel Tennyson. Against Australia in The Ashes, England won in 1926 and successfully defended them in 1928–29 but thereafter had to face the formidable challenge of Don Bradman, whose heavy scoring was the 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, Herbert 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. (en)
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