Mid-1920s career[edit]Macaulay's most successful season in terms of wickets was 1925, despite a very dry summer which produced a succession of good batting pitches. He took 211 wickets at an average of 15.48, coming top of the Yorkshire averages.[9][37][38] Exactly 200 of his wickets were taken for Yorkshire—only Wilfred Rhodes and George Hirst had previously reached 200 wickets for Yorkshire, and only Bob Appleyard has done so since, as of 2013.[39] One of Macaulay's highest profile performances in 1925 came for Yorkshire against Sussex, who were chasing 263 to win the game. Just after lunch on the final day, the score was 223 for three wickets. A possibly apocryphal story suggests that Macaulay drank champagne in the interval.[39] He then delivered a spell of five wickets for eight runs in 33 balls to bowl out his opponents and finish with figures of seven for 67.[40][41] He then left the field exhausted. The cricket historian Mick Pope describes the match as a "lasting testimony to [Macaulay's] belief that no cause was ever lost".[42] Macaulay was again selected for the Players against the Gentlemen at Lord's, and took five wickets in the match.[7] With the bat, Macaulay scored 621 runs at an average of 23.88, although he only passed fifty twice.[10]
Yorkshire's reign as County Champions ended in 1926, the first season since 1921 when Yorkshire did not win the Championship.[14] Wisden noted that the Yorkshire attack, with the exception of Rhodes, was less effective than previously.[37] Macaulay bowled less overs and took fewer wickets at a higher bowling average; his 134 wickets, at an average of 17.78, placed him second in the Yorkshire averages.[9][43] Selected for a Test trial, he failed to take a wicket. Wisden described his performance as "lifeless",[44] while cricket writer Neville Cardus noted that he had "yet again ... fallen below his best away from the