History of Bucks CCC

Meanwhile Haygarth, whose publications overflow with the scores of Eton’s matches, alighted upon another cricketing location in Bucks: Newport Pagnell, where we find the first of several references in 1838. On 24 and 25 August the home team beat the Royal Artillery Club by an innings and eight runs. In 1841 there was a heavy loss to Moor Park, a year later a comfortable win against the Gentlemen of Leicestershire. None of those who played in the matches would be counted among the great cricketers of the day, nor were any of the Newport Pagnell players later found playing for the county, but one man who was in the home team on all three occasions was Lord C Russell, possibly a kinsman of the Duke of Bedford. Up to this point, games of cricket in Buckinghamshire were not to be counted among the great matches and, where neighbouring Hertfordshire could claim the rascally Lord Frederick Beauclerk, Bucks had thrown up no notable cricketing personalities. Notwithstanding the matches of the 1780s, none of the county’s encounters had merited Haygarth’s attention, and his first mention of a game involving a Bucks team comes in 1844. For his tardiness in including any of the county’s earlier matches Haygarth was taken to task in the earlier quoted article from The Cricketer , where he was reproved for his failure to mention ‘the game in which Buckinghamshire beat Surrey in Chelsea in 1814 for 200 guineas a side and 50 the odds.’ Haygarth, in fact, collected full scores rather than mere references to matches, so the omissions are hardly surprising. Moreover, it was the presence of famous players that made a match noteworthy. However, in fairness to Haygarth, it is known that he strove to unearth the details of many matches that ultimately eluded him. The 1844 match against Berkshire met Haygarth’s criteria. Full scores survive and the match took place, very appropriately, on the Brocas at Eton. Moreover, at a time when it was common practice to hire professionals to undertake the more irksome task of bowling, the Bucks side was strengthened by the inclusion of three of the foremost cricketers of the day - Fuller Pilch, William Hillyer and James Dean. Pilch was the leading batsman of the period and Hillyer one of its most feared bowlers, while Dean, another fine bowler, thought nothing of keeping wicket and bowling alternate overs. These household names will certainly have commended the match to Haygarth, and though Pilch did little with the bat the two bowlers played a crucial part in steering Bucks to a three-wicket win against opponents who were themselves strengthened by three hired men, among them William Lillywhite. Emphasising that the cricket of the 1840s was seldom a batsman’s game, the scores in this two-day match were: Berks 31 and 45; Bucks 47 and 30 for 7. There is still nothing to suggest the formality of a county club at this stage. Indeed, when Bucks’ activities next took Haygarth’s attention in 1846, the selection of the side was left to a young aristocrat. The son of a high court judge, Charles Coleridge had taken the eye as an Eton schoolboy just two years earlier and he was destined to play with distinction for Oxford in 1849 and 1850. This time only one hired man, Hillyer, was enlisted and among the amateurs Coleridge invited to represent Bucks was JW Chitty, who had played with him in the Eton eleven. A familiar name in legal circles, his father was the author of Chitty’s Practice and other law books. Young Joe Chitty went on to play alongside Coleridge for Oxford. Chosen as a wicket-keeper, he earned a place in the university’s folklore for the amusement caused when his wig fell off in a collision on the field and revealed his bald pate. After Berkshire had emerged victorious from another low-scoring match by 25 runs, the next three encounters between the two sides to be recorded by Haygarth, two in 1849 and one in 1859, all ended in draws or ‘unfinished’ in the parlance of the day. The next Bucks match to interest Haygarth was at Fenny Stratford in 1859 when Twenty Two of Buckinghamshire, strengthened by the inclusion of the Yorkshire professional William Slinn, pitted their skills against George Parr’s All England Eleven. This was a wandering circus of players who used to earn a comfortable living by touring around and playing a succession of such matches across the country. Bucks 12 Haygarth takes notice of Bucks