History of Bucks CCC

Development Officers, Stephen Goldthorpe, a former teacher at the RGS, and his successor Steve Ayres, a prominent Young Amateur, were both local men with the best interests of Bucks close to their heart. At the 1997 AGM the chairmanship passed on fromKen Drucquer to Stuart York. At the same time a new secretary was identified who would succeed Jack Tomlin the following year. In office since 1985, Tomlin had battled on through ill health, but he had made it clear that he was no longer able to fulfil his duties as he would have wished and that a replacement would have to be found. It was a fortunate turn of fate that the ever enthusiastic and efficient Kevin Beaumont should just have negotiated early retirement, and he was attracted by the possibility of shadowing Tomlin for one year and taking over at the next AGM. Beaumont had first made his mark in the county as an umpire, reaching the minor counties’ panel at the age of only 25. Now he was about to embark on his greatest contribution to the county’s cricket. With changes in the wind for the first-class game, minor counties competition also adopted new structures in 1998. The one-day competition was expanded to include 38 teams, the 20 minor counties now being joined by Board teams representing each of the 18 first-class counties. The competition began with groups of round robin matches, from which the winners qualified for the quarter-finals of a knockout. In the Championship, meanwhile, the concern was to address the problem of contrived two-day matches, the outcome of which all too often hinged on a third innings declaration after a relatively pointless first day. An initial solution was to adopt, for three of the nine matches, the Australian ‘grade rules’ format with a points structure whereby each side would be encouraged to bat for a whole day, providing a chance for batsmen to build the long innings that are the key to success in the upper reaches of the game. Thus a new set of challenges faced Jason Harrison, but he had at his side Neil Burns, who had spent an active winter, in his new role of Director of Cricket, setting up monthly sessions at Lord’s with particular emphasis on team-building and weekly technical sessions in the nets at Finchley. A pre-season training weekend at Stowe School was also arranged. A newly formed Academy, which was to replace the Under 25 team, joined up with members of the county team to provide a stronger, more focused squad, in which Burns was quick to support the selection of younger players for the county side. “I pushed for a policy of playing the ten best players plus one outstanding young player,” he said. Those to gain experience from holding a regular place without being too hastily judged on short-term performance were Paul Sawyer, Kelvin Locke, Greg Hames, son of former captain Neil, Matt Eyles and Jamie Benning. As soon as he had arrived Burns had identified senior players like Harwood, Owen and Stanway, who had the commitment to be part of his plan and the will to succeed, but for some others it was all too intense, too much of an imposition on their working and family lives – and they melted away. One who had always admired what Burns was striving to achieve was the ex-captain Tim Scriven, who also praises his technical ability: “His coaching skills were second to none, probably the best I’ve ever worked with. He was always positive, a proper professional cricketer.” Once regarded as potentially headstrong, by the time he took on the captaincy, Jason Harrison had matured as a person and a player, but he was still a strong and determined 105 Changing structures Kevin Beaumont