History of Bucks CCC

Tracing the growth of the game from its earliest references in the county through to the age of helmets and isotonic drinks, the author unveils a story of triumphs and struggles. A first attempt to start a Bucks County Cricket Club in 1864 was destined to founder, but an historic meeting at the Charing Cross Hotel in 1891 launched the club whose nine championship titles place Bucks second only to Staffordshire among the Minor Counties. The history tells of extravagant hopes for a new county ground in the 1890s soon to make way for a desperate battle for financial survival before Bucks cricket moves into its golden age in the inter-war years. With a martinet skipper, Walter Franklin, at the helm and Frank Edwards’ masterly left-arm spinners bringing him 1,059 wickets, were there thoughts of first-class status for Bucks? The author has his own views as the story moves on to describe post-war successes, highlighted by victory over Somerset in the NatWest Trophy. It is a story interlaced with off-the-field politics and seasons starved of victory, but ending on a note of undisguised optimism as Paul Atkins prepares for his eighth season as county captain. ‘As with all good books, once I started reading it I could hardly put it down.’ Robin Peppiatt in the Foreword £15.00 ISBN 1 905138 27 X ISBN 978 1 905138 27 2