History of Bucks CCC

soon became apparent as Surrey could manage no more than 95 in reply to Bucks’181. The next day Bucks built on their lead and, with Eton schoolmaster WN Roe making 56, totalled 232 to set Surrey the formidable target of 319 to win. Before the close of the second day they had collapsed a second time for only 76. There were match figures of nine for 62 for Hazelton and nine for 80 for Edwards as Bucks ran out winners by 242 runs. This match marked the end of Edwards’ most prolific season. With eight wickets against MCC he had taken 104 for Bucks. Unfortunately this figure has been misconstrued over the years to accord to Edwards the distinction of taking a hundred wickets in Minor Counties Championship matches alone, the canard first appearing in the report published in the 1924 handbook. His 96 victims against county opposition came at an average of 10.29. Bucks’ batting around this time was often uncertain and various young hopefuls were tried for a few matches only to melt away. Some, like the former Brighton College player WRN Philps, shone in the field, but for weight of runs Philip Le Gros was in a class of his own. Good enough to be chosen for the Gentlemen in 1920 and for the Minor Counties in 1924, for each of the first five seasons after the War he was the county’s leading run-maker and, as he had in the Challenge Match against Surrey, Le Gros was a batsman who could turn a match with his commanding stroke-play. Tall and well-built, he had a pronounced stoop at the wicket, from which he uncoiled to strike the ball with rare power. He once made 164 in little over the hour in a Club and Ground match at Northampton, reaching his century in 40 minutes. As tribute to another innings a photograph hung for many years in the High Wycombe pavilion showing a row of cars with their windscreens smashed by the ferocity of Le Gros’ hits. Le Gros’ highest score for Bucks came when he hit 155 against Hertfordshire at Watford in 1923, but it was the Leicestershire Second Eleven bowlers who had most reason to remember his capabilities. When the teams met for the first time in 1924 the match at Hinckley did not begin until two o’clock on the second day. Within two hours Leicestershire were all out for 35, Edwards taking six for 10. The Bucks innings was also moving at a slow pace until Le Gros exploded, taking 26 off the last over bowled. His 70 not out enabled Franklin to declare at 5.35 with a lead of 86. This gave Edwards enough time to take another five wickets as Leicestershire stuttered to 43 for 6, counting themselves fortunate to escape an innings defeat in half a day’s play. Three weeks later the two teams locked horns again at High Wycombe. Leicestershire again chose to bat first but could muster no more than 33. This wretched score nevertheless sufficed to give them a first innings lead of nine. Hazelton and Edwards had done the damage in the first innings and they were soon in action again, but the visiting batsmen fared better in their second attempt, reaching 118. Needing 128 for victory, Bucks then slumped to 27 for 3 overnight. The odds must have favoured Leicestershire, but the next day Le Gros took command. With Aubrey-Fletcher giving staunch support, he drove his way to 80 not out to secure a seven-wicket victory for Bucks. These matches with Leicestershire came in the season that broke Bucks’ sequence as champion of the Minor Counties. In a wet summer Franklin had the misfortune to lose the toss in every match. The season began with not a ball bowled at The Oval and in the next two games there was no play on the first day. The handicap was too great for Bucks, who nevertheless managed to chalk up three wins, their only loss coming when Surrey Second Eleven squeezed home by 24 runs at High Wycombe to avenge their heavy defeat of the previous year. This season Frank Edwards found a new ally to bowl at the other end. AU Payne, the brother of the Reverend EJ Payne of The Lee, had played seven matches in 1923 but only as a batsman. In 1925 he was to win a controversial blue in a very strong Championship successes 45