was forced to dismiss Bobby Peel from Yorkshire's service for drunkenness. However, Peel's replacement was Wilfred Rhodes who became arguably the club's greatest-ever player. Yorkshire won a third title in 1898, the same year that Hawke was elected Yorkshire President in succession to Michael Ellison, and he again scored two centuries in the season. He just missed his thousand runs, scoring 950 at 30.64 including scores of 107 not out for Yorkshire against Kent and 134 for Yorkshire against Warwickshire. In 1899, he scored 923 runs at 26.37 with a highest score of 127 for Yorkshire against Hampshire. Swanton wrote that, by 1900, Hawke had "moulded Yorkshire into the finest side in the country" and they won the County Championship three years in succession from 1900 to 1902. They were "essentially a complete team" with the batting of Tunnicliffe, Brown and David Denton; the powerful all-round play of Hirst, Rhodes and Schofield Haigh; and, crucially given Test calls, "plentiful reserves of high quality". According to Kilburn, Hawke came to the "fulfilment of his cricketing ambitions" with the three successive titles which were "a logical culmination to ten years of cultivation". Hawke's own batting was variable during these three seasons. He had little success in 1900 but scored 902 runs and 7 half-centuries in 1901; and then 565 runs with 2 centuries and no half-centuries in 1902. His 1902 centuries were 107 not out for MCC against Oxford University and 126 for Yorkshire against Surrey. Hawke's loyalty to Yorkshire was such that he would put county before country if an issue arose. In 1901, Hirst and Rhodes were invited to join a team organised by Archie MacLaren to tour Australia and Hawke refused to authorise their selection, preferring instead to have the Yorkshire Committee pay them compensation. Hawke was driven by principle as he strongly supported a demand for official sponsorship of England Tests at home and tours abroad. He believed that MCC should accept this responsibility and, when a year later they did, Hawke was more than willing to release his players to assist England. Hawke's concern was that any Yorkshire players on tour should be given the same care and consideration that they received from the county club and he believed that only MCC would share Yorkshire's sense of responsibility. 1903 to 1911 Joseph Wolstinholm retired as Club Secretary after the 1902 season and was succeeded by Frederick Toone