History of Bucks CCC

the county would be competing in the fullest sense of the word. Moreover, the new County Ground was now ready for the start of the campaign, and for the next three years this was where all home matches would be played. Thereafter, until 1902, Aylesbury hosted three matches a year while one went to Bletchley Park. These early seasons were successful ones for Bucks. There were four wins to only one loss in 1896. Two of the matches were very close. The only loss was by one wicket against Hertfordshire at Watford, while one of the wins, against Oxfordshire at Banbury, was by eight runs with the penultimate wicket falling to a boundary catch that home supporters claimed had been taken as the fielder crossed the boundary line and Barber, the Bucks umpire, facing abuse for the decision he had made in favour of his own county. In 1897 the victories rose to five with two defeats. There was a poorer year in1898 with just one victory to offset two losses, but in 1899, under the curious rules of the day, Bucks were declared champions, jointly with Northants, despite winning only once with the seven remaining matches ending in draws. Glamorgan meanwhile had won six of their eight matches, but this was to no avail: avoiding any losses was the formula for taking the crown! The leading amateurs The Bucks team of this period conformed to a pattern that could be seen with many other counties. Typically there would be a handful of professionals, usually three with Bucks, who bore the brunt of the bowling, whilst the rest of the team was made up of amateurs of sharply differing ability but with the common thread of a public school background. A hard core played for many seasons, but others came and went after a few brief appearances. For Bucks the leading amateur was Percy de Paravicini, who captained the team from 1893 until 1907. Though his appearances became infrequent in his final seasons he was seldom absent in the early years. A talented sportsman, he had first played in the Eton eleven of 1878 at the age of 15, becoming captain in the last two of his four years in the team. A four-year blue at Cambridge, he went on to play 62 matches for Middlesex between 1881 and 1892. Until he was forced to retire from the game with a damaged knee de Paravicini was also an accomplished soccer player, who played at full back for England against Scotland, Ireland and Wales. He also played in two FA Cup finals for Old Etonians, ending on the winning side against Blackburn Rovers in 1882. In later life he was a keen golfer. By the time he came to play for Bucks de Paravicini must have been past his best. He endured a wretchedly unsuccessful season in 1895, but came back strongly in subsequent years to register three centuries. Often promoting himself up the order when quick runs were needed, he ended his career with what was then a very respectable batting average of 25.86. In his younger days he was a fine outfielder and he allowed himself the very occasional over of slow bowling. But above all Percy de The leading amateurs 22 PJ de Paravicini