The onset of World War I in 1914 brought an end to the "Golden Age" of English cricket. Surrey called off their last two matches without forfeiting their position at the top of the County Championship, which they thus won for the first time since 1899, and the County Championship was then suspended until the 1919 season. In Australia, the Sheffield Shield was contested in 1914–15 despite the ongoing war, but was then suspended until the 1919–20 season. No first-class cricket was played in South Africa from the close of the 1913–14 season until a series of matches against the Australian Imperial Forces cricket team in late 1919.