1919 English cricket season

It was decided that County Championship matches should be reduced from three days' duration to two, but cricket had not lost its popularity and the two-day experiment was a failure.

Fearing that cricket might have lost its popularity since 1914, they decided by a consensus of eleven against five to restrict matches to a two-day duration instead of three, but with longer hours of play.

[1] Wisden editor Sydney Pardon led the chorus of disapproval, saying: "I have a very strong opinion that a grave mistake has been made in not letting the game alone.

[3] Pardon went on to suggest that the County Championship should be "dropped entirely for one year" to allow a reasonable period for post-war recovery.

Thanks, however, to stubborn resistance by Patsy Hendren and Frank Mann, Middlesex were a tougher nut to crack in their second innings and they held on for the draw.

The two-day experiment failed because, given good weather and batting conditions, the majority of matches could not be completed and were drawn.

Pardon and his supporters were proved right and, in an Advisory County Committee meeting at Lord's on Monday, 8 December, the main decision taken was to restore the three-day format for the 1920 championship.

Be this as it may, the resumption of first-class matches was no sooner announced than all the faddists in Great Britain began to fill the newspapers with their ideas of what they were pleased to call reform or reconstruction".

[3] The Australian Imperial Forces cricket team played twenty-eight first-class matches in England from mid-May until mid-September.

[9] Jack Hobbs was the leading run-scorer in first-class cricket during the season, amassing 2,594 runs at an average of 60.32 during 30 matches for Surrey and the Players.