History of Bucks CCC

second innings century, against Staffordshire at Beaconsfield. There were six first innings wickets for Simon Stanway and six in the second for Jonathan Newell, a spin bowler from Gerrards Cross making his county debut. Following a draw against Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire were beaten by 103 runs in a high-scoring game where a Medlycott hundred gave Bucks a splendid start and Chris Batt of Taplow secured the win with five second innings wickets. At Ipswich, Suffolk, the ultimate winners of the division, declared their first innings at 392 for 8 to pave the way for a comfortable nine-wicket victory. The season’s final match brought county cricket to the Slough Club’s well appointed new ground at Upton Court Road for the first time, the game ending with the Bucks fielders crowding round an injured Trevor Ward in a vain effort to capture the final Norfolk wicket, which would have brought the summer’s third win. Earlier Matt Eyles had hit 119 and it was Jonathan Newell’s seven for 99 in the second innings that had taken Bucks to the brink of victory. It was the earlier draw, against Cambridgeshire at Gerrards Cross, that made the greatest impact on the record books. Entering at 100 for 4, Bobby Sher displaced Malcolm Roberts’ highest individual score when he struck Bucks’ first ever double century. With skipper Paul Atkins he added 241 for the seventh wicket, comfortably surpassing the record set 51 years earlier by John Cockett and Brian Lucas. The match was also notable for a return of five for 19, including a hat trick, from Chris Batt on debut. Sadly for Bucks, rain and an undefeated 193 by Michael Sutliff in the follow on denied Bucks victory. Earlier in the season there had been signs of a new direction that minor counties’ competition might take when Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire joined Bucks for a Twenty20 tournament at Burnham. Fielding a weakened side due to an Academy match clash, Bucks lost all three of their matches, but plans are afoot to repeat the venture. As he looks to the future Paul Atkins can take heart from knowing that cricket in Bucks has come a long way from the dark days of 2003. The county of the swan has bounced back before, and respectability has now returned, if not yet the success of the 1920s. The captain no longer takes the field with players in whom he does not believe. He looks to the future with several goals still unfulfilled, but he talks enthusiastically of the likes of Tom Brooks and Kieran Price, who have come through the Bucks youth system and started to make their presence felt in his team. The Academy side, meanwhile, is playing a full part in preparing players for the step up to minor counties cricket. They have all benefited from intensive coaching sessions involving Paul Atkins and Steve Ayres, with Keith Medlycott brought in to stimulate their thinking about their game. The Tom Orford Trophy is still keenly contested, but five counties are involved rather than four and the matches, now played over two days on the ‘grade rules’ principle, are spread through the season instead of being concentrated into a festival week. The days when the county captain might have known little of the talent pressing for places in the senior team are past. 114 Coles and Medlycott lead a revival Bobby Sher displays his County Cap