History of Bucks CCC

ten seasons to finish with a batting average of 26.27. He hit two centuries, his 162 against Berkshire at Reading in 1909 being the highest individual score for the county up to that time. The doctor was not alone in finding time to play in only half the matches. Others who showed form that must have led to more invitations than they were able to accept were RH de Montmorency and E Southall, a Slough player. A distinguished all-round sportsman who also played for Hertfordshire, Reymond de Montmorency appeared just twice for Bucks in 1907 and once more in 1909 but still managed an average of 43.00 with a top score of 90 out of his side’s total of 165 against Wiltshire at Bletchley Park in his final match. His daughter, many years later, was to marry EW Swanton. Southall’s few matches are more puzzling as he remained involved in committee matters for some years and, like de Montmorency, the call came when Bucks were most in need of some ballast in the middle of the order. His seven appearances, interspersed between 1907 and 1909, brought him 431 runs at 43.10. He, too, had a highest score of 90, against Worcestershire Second Eleven at Kidderminster in his first match. In the earlier years of this less propitious period the county will have been grateful for the commitment of EC Hobbs, an opening batsman from Slough, who began in 1902 and averaged 21.42 with seven fifties from 28 matches. Between 1905 and 1910 RW Orton from Amersham, managed 1,302 runs at 20.03 from 36 matches. A younger brother of Tom Orton, the Amersham Club’s groundsman until 1944, Robert Orton’s sudden loss of initials in 1909 suggests that the county committee felt it was worth paying him. Or perhaps he knew his value and held out for a match fee! EJ Leat, who was born in Somerset, played twice for his native county, though a Bucks career of 17 matches from 1908 that brought 588 runs at 21.78 suggests that he was hardly good enough for first-class cricket. Thomas Stacey, an Old Etonian from Buckingham, whose listed recreations - hunting, shooting and cricket - neatly encapsulated those of many of the other country gentlemen who assisted the county from time to time, usually played in matches at the convenient and congenial venue of Bletchley Park. Stacey stretched his 26 appearances over a long period in averaging 18.76 with three fifties. He occasionally turned his arm to good effect, once claiming four wickets for no runs against Bedfordshire with his leg breaks. Modest as these players’ figures are, they represent the efforts of a few of the more productive team members of the difficult years. As occasional players came and went, Bucks still attracted the occasional amateur of distinction. One such was the Hon JJ Astor, younger son of Viscount Astor, who was in the Eton XI of 1904 and 1905 and who opened the batting for Bucks in both those years, performing creditably. He never played for the county in later life, but went on to a distinguished journalistic career in the course of which he became proprietor of The Times . He served as president of MCC in 1937 and was created the first Baron Astor of Hever in 1956. Even before George Nash died in 1903 it was clear that a void was opening up in the professional ranks. The Boddy family from Beaconsfield supplied at least two members, the absence of initials for professionals sometimes making it difficult to identify which appeared in certain matches. Ernest Boddy was the most regular member of the clan, performing erratically but scoring one century in 1900. After a gap of several years both he and GH Boddy were recalled to the colours in 1909 and 1910. 35 The years of struggle