History of Bucks CCC

With Scriven’s retirement and Clarke’s defection to Norfolk, Atkins faced the next summer without both his spin bowlers, and before the season began he had also lost Burns, invited back to the first-class game by Leicestershire, for whom he enjoyed three successful years with bat and gloves. For Bucks there were three successive losses in the 38 County Trophy and a defeat by Wales in the NatWest, where an important lbw decision denied against West Indies Test batsman Phil Simmons proved crucial in a match lost by only 11 runs. In the Championship the grade rules experiment was abandoned after just two seasons. After rain had brought a premature end to the Staffordshire match, the Bucks’ campaign made an encouraging start with wins against Norfolk and Hertfordshire, the latter despite manager Steve Lynch being obliged to play and bring in two teenage debutants, one of them his own son. None of the three fill-in players batted or bowled as Bucks scored 278 for 4 to set up victory by an innings and 66 runs, the county’s most emphatic win for more than 30 years. The prospect of heading the division was blown away with a loss to Bedfordshire and two more defeats on the northern tour, by just one wicket against Northumberland at Jesmond and by five wickets after another Bucks declaration against Cumberland. The Jesmond match was a memorable one for the captain, who became only the third Bucks player, after Charles Gresson and John Aubrey-Fletcher, to carry his bat through an innings. At Carlisle Simon Stanway confirmed his reputation as a bowler to answer a captain’s prayers when the going is tough. He bowled unchanged through the two Cumberland innings, a total of 50 overs, at a time when circumstances had again conspired to leave Bucks struggling with an unbalanced side. Atkins’ bat-carrying 86 not out at Jesmond was one several fine innings in a season where he had had to shoulder extra responsibility as younger players strove to make their mark. Among those who began to fulfil promise were Graeme Paskins, who also kept wicket in several of the matches, and the free-scoring left-hander Russell Lane, but others of known ability in whom Burns had pinned faith, Matt Eyles of High Wycombe and Kelvin Locke of Bletchley, were still struggling to come to terms with the demands of batting at this level. A notable debutant was Jamie Benning, who made his first appearance shortly after his seventeenth birthday and averaged over 30. This was to be his only season for Bucks before joining the staff at Surrey, for whom he has made his greatest impact as a batsman in the one-day game. Top of the bowling averages was Steve Naylor, whose 20 wickets included a match-winning spell of seven for 22 against Hertfordshire. Jamie Bovill was able to play six matches and performed well, while the experienced Paul Woodroffe brought steadiness to the attack. Replacing Clarke as the main spinner was Jeremy Batty, older brother of the England bowler Gareth Batty. Like his brother, he bowled off breaks and brought the experience of 84 first-class matches for Yorkshire and Somerset. Batty’s 16 wickets were expensive and he achieved little with the bat. The advent of three-day cricket The 2001 season brought three-day cricket to the minor counties. Two days had once provided plenty of time to bowl sides out twice. But the quality of pitches had steadily improved, so the average wicket in Bucks games (whether batting or bowling) was now going for over 70% more than it had in Franklin’s day and it was worth a third more than in the 1970s. So matches had become increasingly contrived with the first innings having less and less relevance to the run chase that had to be set up on the second day. “The game dictated itself,” says Paul Atkins, “the art of captaincy wasn’t there. I found it very negative cricket. It wasn’t about bowling the other team out; it was more stopping them getting runs.” 108 The advent of three-day cricket