History of Bucks CCC

There were two Whiting brothers from Newport Pagnell. Earning their livelihood as farmers, they found it difficult to play together. Frank Whiting, whose son played three times for the county in the 1940s, had announced himself in 1919 with a whirlwind innings of 130 in 50 minutes for the Club and Ground against Wolverton. He made a few useful scores for the county, but it was the younger of the two brothers, fast bowler Jack, tall and well built, who was the unchallenged star of the 1920 season and of whom it was said that he was one of the three fastest bowlers in England. Among his outstanding analyses were: eight for 23 against Wiltshire at Bletchley Park, seven for 42 in the return fixture at Trowbridge and seven for 39 against Berkshire at Slough. The next year saw him make two first-class appearances, when he played for HDG Leveson Gower’s XI against both Oxford and Cambridge. Among his six victims was DR Jardine. There were some useful overs of left-arm spin from CL Powell, who would go on to play 65 times for Bucks though bowling less and less as the seasons passed and graduating to opening batsman in his later years. It was hardly surprising that Bucks should have had less need for Powell’s bowling after 1921 because this was the first year in which the county could call on the slow bowling of Major Henry Aubrey-Fletcher and, more importantly, it was the season that marked the return of Frank Edwards. A man who would serve the county in many different capacities from secretary to president, Aubrey-Fletcher’s best years as a bowler were 1921 and 1922 when he proved a valuable foil to Edwards, whose left-arm spin was soon to make him a legend of the minor counties game. Edwards, it should be remembered, had achieved very little in his two pre-war matches, and he had been virtually forgotten when cricket resumed in 1919. There are no references to him in the minute book or handbooks, and rumours even circulated that he had died in action. In fact, he had been lucky to survive having endured a particularly unpleasant war, in which he had suffered shell shock and been severely gassed in France. But he had a stroke of good fortune in 1917. Not for the first time, he had been invalided from the front and had spent time recuperating in England. Re-graded A1 and fit to return to action, he was awaiting a troop ship at Felixstowe when he strolled down to the local cricket club one evening. There he chanced to meet JWHT Douglas, who had led the MCC team to South Africa in 1913/14 and who would captain England again after the War. Invited to turn his arm over, Edwards was quick to impress the England captain with his accurate spinners. Johnny Douglas soon set about pulling a few strings and, with the connivance of his brother, managed to have Edwards re-classified as C2, enabling him to spend the rest of the war at Felixstowe, where he played for the garrison with Frank Woolley. After the War Frank Edwards, now almost 34, entertained hopes that Surrey might wish to re-engage him, but he was turned down and found a post caring for the ground at North Park, where the Surrey Wanderers played, and umpiring their matches. One day the team found themselves a man short for their match against St Thomas’s Hospital. Edwards was asked to fill the gap and took eight wickets. As soon as stumps were drawn a doctor was on the telephone to Bucks, and when 43 Championship successes Jack Whiting Frank Edwards