History of Bucks CCC

Another glorious summer in 1990 meant that runs flowed and bowlers’ successes were hard earned. There were 921 championship runs for Roberts, who also won a Man of the Match award playing for the Minor Counties against Sussex in the Benson & Hedges Cup and marked his first-class debut by scoring 85 against the Indians. There were fine all-round seasons for Burrow and Scriven, who now complemented his left-arm spin with purposeful batting and was awarded his cap. Though they could manage only two wins, Bucks went undefeated in the Championship and did enough to finish equal third. There was a comprehensive 192-run defeat by Nottinghamshire in the NatWest Trophy, but the performance in the one-day Holt Cup was the highlight of the season. The campaign began against Berkshire at Wellington College, where heavy rain caused the abandonment of the first match after nine overs. When a fresh 25-over match started at 4.30, Bucks’ total of 145 proved sufficient for an 18-run win. 262 for 4 set up a 20-run win against Bedfordshire and, when Bucks again batted first at Christ Church, 217 for 8 was too much for Oxfordshire, who went down by 31 runs. In a knockout final for the first time, Bucks travelled to Lord’s to meet Lincolnshire but suffered the disappointment of seeing play washed out on the Sunday. Returning next day, they won the toss and a splendid 97 not out from Paul Atkins was the centre-piece of their total of 227 for 7. Tight bowling from Booden and Tim Barry created early pressure, but the decisive moment came when a throw from Atkins on the long on boundary achieved a direct hit to run out the danger man Jim Love, once of Yorkshire and a one-day England international. Thereafter Bucks retained control to take the match by 16 runs. Neil Hames’ last season as captain marked the centenary of the County Club, an event that was celebrated with a dinner at the Bellhouse Hotel and a one-day match against MCC at Marlow, where Bucks’ opponents included the former Young Amateur Ian Gould, who had gone on to keep wicket for England’s one-day team in Australia. The NatWest Trophy took the Bucks team to Bath, where a total of 159 for eight never looked like unseating Somerset for a second time. Hopes of retaining the Holt Cup had also perished by this time, a comfortable win against Bedfordshire being followed by defeat at Bishops Stortford, where Hertfordshire got home by five wickets with seven balls to spare. In the Championship Bucks were once again in contention, leading the division for most of the season but slipping up in the penultimate match against Shropshire at Beaconsfield to finish in second place just two points behind Oxfordshire with three wins and a tied match against only the one loss. The tie, the third in the county’s history, came at Truro, where Cornwall, needing 210 for victory, had reached 153 for no wicket before Tim Scriven broke through. The match went down to the final ball with the last wicket claimed when Cornwall made an attempt at a third run which would have brought them victory. This was an outstanding match for Scriven with 60 in the first innings, top score of 41 in the second and then five for 66 in the last innings. Throughout the season runs came as usual from Roberts, Harwood, Burrow and Scriven, but there also a first century from Bruce Percy and promising contributions from another locally developed player Simon Shearman. Another to make his debut was High Wycombe’s Jason Harrison, a prodigious run-maker for the Young Amateurs, who began modestly for the senior side but would soon become a Restrictions on the M25 players 98 Tim Scriven