onward, Cardus used the forename "Neville" in place of "Fred", and adopted the initials "N.C." for his music reviews, to distinguish this persona from "Cricketer". In August 1921 Cardus gained what he termed "the only scoop of my career", when he reported the unexpected victory by 28 runs of MacLaren's scratch side over the previously unbeaten Australian touring team. The match, at The Saffrons ground at Eastbourne, had attracted little interest from other cricket correspondents, being treated as a foregone conclusion. The focus of much of Cardus's cricket writing was the Lancashire side of the inter-war years, and in particular their twice-yearly battles with rivals Yorkshire. His eye was as much on the players and their personalities as on the game, on "the match within the match", with the actual scores treated as secondary. Cardus justified this: "Do I add up the notes of a Mozart "Vivace" to evaluate the music?" To meet Cardus's requirements, the players were sometimes "enlarged", notably Emmott Robinson, the veteran Yorkshire all-rounder of the 1920s who through Cardus's pen became "the apotheosis of Yorkshire cricket and Yorkshire character". In the 1930s, Cardus's style became less effusive, as his older heroes were replaced by players with, in his view, less romantic appeal. Bradman was an exception; after his exploits in the England versus Australia Test series of 1930 Cardus described the Australian as "an incredible exponent who in himself sums up all the skill and experience that have gone before him ... he has kindled grand bonfires of batsmanship for us". Selections from Cardus's Manchester Guardian cricket writings were published in a series of books between 1922 and 1937. Because of financial constraints the paper did not send "Cricketer" to Australia to cover the "Bodyline" tour of 1932–33. Cardus was generally approving of Jardine's controversial bodyline tactics, writing on 5 March 1933: "[H]ad [Jardine] been a weak man, all the energy of Larwood [England's premier bowler] might have proved as vain a thing as it did in 1930". In 1936–37, Cardus accompanied the MCC team to Australia; otherwise he continued to write on English domestic cricket until the 1939 season was summarily truncated. On 1 September, the day that Germany invaded Poland, Cardus observed the removal of the bust of W. G. Grace from the Lord's pavilion; he was informed by a bystander: "That means war". It has been argued that this should be regarded as