History of Bucks CCC

Johns we shall not need his bowling. Or we could play Neil Burns as a batsman. Then there is John Turner, left-handed only with his throwing arm. Should his sheer weight of runs win a place? Paul Atkins, batting on better pitches, can point to a more impressive average. But we may need someone to crouch under the helmet and Turner set new pinnacles of bravery without one. But Turner is an opening batsman and I have preferred Gresson. Then there is Claude Taylor, the only man to average over 50 for more than a handful of innings. But he only played for two seasons and I harbour worries that he may plague Franklin with his theories and his determination to see the game played ‘properly’, when Franklin will be flat out to win. In the end I have gone for none of these. Especially in a strong team, there is a place in the middle of the order for someone who can belt the living daylights out of the ball and turn the course of a match. No-one has done it more dramatically for Bucks than Philip Le Gros, the leading batsman of the early 1920s, the period when scoring runs was at its very hardest. He won’t be swooping on the ball in the covers – twelfth man Bill Atkins will do that if he can get on the field – but Le Gros will bring safe hands to the slip cordon. The team, then, is: 1. Malcolm Roberts 2. Charles Gresson 3. David Johns 4. Hubert Brooke 5. Philip Le Gros 6. Colin Lever 7. Mat Wright 8. Walter Franklin 9. Ronnie Rutter 10. Frank Edwards 11. Alf Hughes 12 th man Bill Atkins How many, I wonder, will keep their places when the history is next written? Postscript 117