History of Bucks CCC

The new package soon began to work, and for the 2004 Championship only 20 players were called up, whereas in 2003 no fewer than 29 had played in the six matches. There was a new spirit in the dressing room, for which Paul Atkins and the long-serving Simon Stanway give great credit to Keith Medlycott. Less intense than Burns had been, Medlycott has restored the feeling of fun in playing cricket. He has striven to stop players being afraid of failure and has encouraged them to express themselves. So, for instance, Russell Lane can give it a whack at the start of the innings, and each team member knows his role. Atkins, too, has taken care to ensure that all his players feel included. He abhors the senior player cliques that characterised the team when he first played. Once said to be over-concerned about his personal performance - a common and necessary characteristic of those who seek to make their living from the game – his focus is now clearly set on the performance of his team, his own position in the batting order adjusted to the wider need. There is a new keenness. “I’ve got the buzz back,” says Jason Harrison, who had at one time retired from minor counties cricket but now regrets the clash of commitments that can make it difficult to play regularly for Bucks at a time when he feels everything is right on the field and off. As Harrison now sees it, Atkins is a fantastic captain tactically, Medlycott excels at man management and Coles provides brilliant administrative support. Sadly, there was no C & G Trophy match to set the 2004 season under way, Bucks having lost a bowl-out to Dorset the previous August, when rain prevented any play on the reserve day at Bournemouth after the county had been well placed on 272 for six from 48 overs. For this match Bucks had called on the services of the Marshall twins, Jamie and Hamish, from New Zealand. Jamie was playing for Gerrards Cross, while his brother, who was already a Test player, was with a club in the north. Hamish made 66 not out in what was to be his only appearance for the county, but Jamie, who was also subsequently capped by his country, played in a total of four one-day matches for Bucks, though with little success. There was a swift exit from the Minor Counties Knockout competition, Suffolk gaining a comfortable nine-wicket win at Copdock. However, once the championship matches got under way, it was soon evident that the new regime was working well and Bucks rose to third in the table. Two of the six matches were won. The first came against Cumberland when county cricket was brought to Gerrards Cross for the first time. Russell Lane, with 112, gave Bucks the initiative and Bobby Sher, from the Slough club, with match figures of nine for 88, was the decisive bowler as the visitors fell 84 short of their target. The only loss came when a strong Northumberland batting line-up successfully chased a target of 293 to win by five wickets at Beaconsfield. The hero of the second win was Simon Stanway, whose five for 40 in Norfolk’s second innings came in a match in which the bat had been dominant and Bucks had trailed by 53 on first innings. An opening stand of 104 between Medlycott and Lane led to a nine-wicket victory. The gods of the weather had been unkind in the three drawn matches, in all of which Bucks appeared to have had the upper hand. The game against Bedfordshire at Luton was notable for the all-round performance of Bobby Sher, who followed his unbeaten 108 with six for 83 in Bedfordshire’s only innings. Sher’s 20 wickets at 19.25 brought him the Frank Edwards Trophy, the third Bucks player to win it after Colin Lever and Ray Bond. An experienced and wholehearted cricketer, Sher’s appearances are sadly rationed by the demands of his business. With 508 runs Medlycott was the season’s most prolific scorer, but there were good contributions from Sawyer, Atkins and Lane and a second season of solid returns from David Barr of Reading. Barr had played a series of good innings and averaged 74 after being drafted in for the last three matches of the disastrous 2003 season, and now averaged 49 in his second year. He is one of the two outsiders now permitted for Coles and Medlycott lead a revival 112