as the team enjoyed a good season in 1883 with a record of 9 wins and 5 draws in 16 inter-county matches. In 1884, Yorkshire won half their inter-county matches, 8 out of 16, but four defeats left them well adrift of Nottinghamshire in the unofficial championship standings. In his 1924 memoirs, Recollections and Reminiscences, Hawke described the 1884 season as "my least successful" and explained that militia duties had interfered with his cricket at Cambridge, for whom he made only two appearances with modest scores in both. With Hawke mostly absent, Louis Hall took over the captaincy. Hawke was more absent in 1885 when, with Hall again leading the team, Yorkshire won seven of their 16 inter-county matches and had the second best record after Nottinghamshire, whom they defeated by an innings and 28 runs, the only match that Nottinghamshire lost. From his first match as Yorkshire captain in August 1882, Hawke played in only nineteen out of 67 first team games between then and September 1885. The captaincy, for all intents and purposes, had gone back to the professionals with first Emmett and then Hall having taken over. Hall led the team in 37 matches through 1884 and 1885. Hawke made eight appearances for Cambridge in 1885 with a best score of 73 against MCC and he played his last match for them in June against Oxford. 1886 to 1889 Although some people assumed that Hawke had turned his back on Yorkshire, he returned with new vigour in 1886 to begin what he himself referred to as his consistent association with the county. While Hawke had formerly been the figurehead who tossed the coin, he now took complete charge of operations and began the transformation of the team in earnest. The team that Hawke inherited from Emmett, which Hawke referred to as "the boys of my old brigade", was in decline by 1886 and several players would retire or be dismissed during the next couple of years so that, by the end of the 1887 season, it was clear that Yorkshire faced what Coldham called "a protracted period of rebuilding". Within the next seasons, the likes of Ted Peate, Billy Bates, Tom Emmett, Louis Hall and George Ulyett had all retired. Left arm spinner Bobby Peel, wicket-keeper David Hunter, all-rounder George Hirst, opening batsman Jack Brown and the amateurs Stanley Jackson and Ernest Smith were among the replacements