History of Bucks CCC

Playing three-day matches nevertheless brought problems to counties like Bucks, where players often found it difficult to take a Tuesday off as well as a Monday, and where employers were not keen on holidays aggregated in odd days. To compound the problem knockout competitions involving the major clubs were scheduled for Sundays, and at High Wycombe, by some way the strongest club in the county, there was always a real prospect of success. The club won the Evening Standard Challenge Trophy in 2002 and has reached two semi-finals of the National Club Championship. With the prospect of a final at Lord’s or The Oval, players’ loyalties were divided and the club tended to win at the county’s expense. For Paul Atkins these were testing times. His strike bowler, Bovill, was posted overseas and Bruce Percy had also played his last game for the county; but it was some compensation that Andy Clarke had returned after only one year away. The new championship programme was, rather unsatisfactorily, cut down to six matches – yet only Atkins and Naylor were able to play in all of them. In a season where no matches were won, the greatest problems lay with the bowling. Of the batsmen Paskins and Lane performed well and both were capped, while a newcomer, Danny Drepaul from Beaconsfield, topped the averages. At his home club he shared a partnership of 229 with Paskins, as both scored centuries, to give Bucks the prospect of an improbable win after following on against Cumberland. Set 251 in 66 overs the visitors had only just begun their chase when the onset of rain ended the match. Though he could not repeat his success in his second season, it was a sad loss for Bucks that Drepaul, also a useful wicket-keeper, should decide to emigrate to New Zealand at the end of the next season. Though the championship sides often included too many unproven youngsters, performances in the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy showed what a full-strength team could achieve. There had been an early departure from the 2001 competition, when Bucks, with New Zealand Test opener Mark Richardson in the side, lost to Kent CB, but the county enjoyed greater success at the end of the season. Under a new arrangement whereby qualifiers for the next season’s matches were determined the previous summer, Bucks first beat Worcestershire CB at Dinton and then Durham CB at Beaconsfield. For both these matches the county were able to field strong teams that included Jamie Benning. These late summer successes brought Bucks a home tie in the C & G Trophy for 2002. Entertaining Sussex at Beaconsfield, Bucks looked the underdogs throughout, the first-class county winning in comfort by 125 runs. In the 38 County Trophy there were two abandoned matches and two defeats. In the Championship two matches were lost, two drawn and one won with the last game of the season, against Suffolk at Mildenhall, never starting because of the weather. Paul Atkins alone enjoyed much success with the bat. Against Staffordshire at Beaconsfield, he became the first Bucks player to carry his bat twice in a career. His 70 not out that day was the only crumb of comfort in a comprehensive defeat. Against Cumberland at Barrow an Atkins century led a recovery from an unpromising start, nine wickets for Clarke bringing victory by 53 runs against the only team to finish below Bucks in the table. Again the C & G Trophy provided some end of season cheer. Against Suffolk at Dinton David Taylor, a left-hander from High Wycombe, hit 140 from 77 balls. With 110 from Atkins, Bucks reached 424 for 5 in their 50 overs. Only twice in the history of the competition had higher totals been achieved – both in the same match at The Oval ten weeks earlier when Surrey and Glamorgan had amassed 867 runs. It was no surprise that the Suffolk reply at Dinton should fall short by 230 runs. This success was followed by a closer-run battle with Shropshire before Bucks got home by 11 runs. Taylor, the hero at Dinton, was destined never to appear in championship cricket for Bucks. His whirlwind display against Suffolk brought him to the attention of 109 The advent of three-day cricket