the refinery. He began playing cricket for Crossley Hall in the West Bradford League at the age of 11; as a teenager he played in the Bradford League for Lidget Green and then Laisterdyke, gaining a local reputation as a fast-medium bowler. He helped Laisterdyke win the League championship in 1913, before moving to Wakefield for the 1914 season, where he took 98 wickets at an average of 12.00. He played for Yorkshire Second XI in August 1914, alongside future First XI teammates Herbert Sutcliffe and Cec Tyson, but the outbreak of the First World War prevented him making any further appearances for the county. When war was declared, Waddington volunteered for Lord Kitchener's New Army, joining the Bradford Pals battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment. On 1 July 1916, during the first day of the Battle of the Somme, Waddington was wounded by shrapnel at Serre, and took shelter in a crater in no man's land with other wounded soldiers. One of these was the Yorkshire cricketer Major Booth, who was mortally wounded. Waddington comforted Booth while the cricketer died in his arms, an experience which haunted Waddington for the rest of his life. After recovering, Waddington transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. First-class cricketer County debut Yorkshire's bowling attack was severely depleted when cricket resumed in 1919 owing to a combination of retirements and deaths in the war. Additionally, George Hirst was past his best, meaning that Yorkshire needed to recruit new fast bowlers. In May and June, the team struggled to dismiss opposing sides on hard pitches; their results were poor and when two important matches were lost in June, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack suggested that "things looked very black". At this point in the season the Yorkshire cricketers Roy Kilner and Arthur Dolphin, who like Waddington had also been wounded at the Somme, recommended him to the Yorkshire committee, probably after seeing him take part in cricket matches in the army. Having returned to play for Laisterdyke in the Bradford League, Waddington was called into the Yorkshire side at the beginning of July for the County Championship match against Derbyshire. On his first-class debut, he took four for 26 (four wickets for 26 runs) in 26 overs, and after missing the next match, he followed up with nine wickets against Essex in his second game, taking his first five-wicket haul in the second innings of that match.