History of Bucks CCC

Roberts paved the way to 334 for 5, a total which Northumberland eclipsed with a boundary off the final ball. With two wins and two losses, Bucks took fifth place in the Eastern Division of the Championship, sufficient to ensure another tilt at first-class opposition in the NatWest. Once again there were several close matches. Northumberland inflicted further pain with a two-run win at Amersham after Bucks had needed only 112. At Ipswich 23-year-old Russell Lane from Slough, still striving to clinch a place in the side, bravely faced up to the last over with 13 required for victory. Four, two, four, four and it was all over. The Bedfordshire match also went to the wire before a two off the final ball spelt defeat by two wickets. The return of Harrison after his time with Middlesex and the engagement of Neil Mallender, a pace bowler with two Test caps, had boded well for a better season, but Mallender pulled up lame early in his fourth match and never played again, soon going on to become one of the country’s leading umpires. With none of the other bowlers performing particularly well, this left an uncomfortable burden on Clarke. There were few problems with the batting. Harrison was in prime form, averaging 56, Hurd, Burns and Jaggard made good runs and Bowyer showed rich promise, as did 17- year-old Paul Sawyer, a left-hand batsman from High Wycombe, who played a full season. But it was a disappointing and uncharacteristic end to Malcolm Roberts’ fine career that his season’s average should drop to just below 20. Switch to Eastern Division 103