History of Bucks CCC

The Slack years: another Championship Brian Janes led the team for only one year. His successor, John Slack, remembers driving out of London with Tony Prince when the secretary popped the question: would he care to take up the challenge? Slack had made his mark by scoring a century for Cambridge on his first-class debut in 1954 and he had won a blue that year. His club cricket had been mainly for UCS Old Boys until he joined Beaconsfield on moving to Iver. He had played four matches for Bucks in 1964 and a couple more in 1966, though without any striking success. However, with long experience of captaincy, notably with the Club Cricket Conference, where he had had experience of the two-day game, he was a well-qualified choice - provided he could spare time from his law practice and the demands of a young family. John Slack’s decision that he would take his annual holidays in the cause of Bucks cricket had the happiest of outcomes. Widely regarded as one of the best of the county’s post-war captains, it was testimony to his leadership skills that, by his third year in charge, Bucks were once again champions. Well attended net sessions in the indoor school at Finchley helped to build team spirit, and when the matches began Slack’s highly perceptive cricket brain quickly got to grips with the tactics of minor counties cricket, in which the first day was typically spent jockeying for position while the second hinged on the timing of declarations. His first year saw a modest upturn in fortunes as Bucks ended in fourteenth place. It was another summer of rain-interrupted matches, with the only wins coming, home and away, against Suffolk, while there were four losses. But the new captain was quickly recognized as one who would keep a game open, and his generous approach would pay dividends in later years. Colin Lever, playing in all the matches, scored well over twice as many runs as any other batsman. David Janes, an increasingly powerful striker of the ball as he grew stronger, topped the averages and useful runs also came from Clive Leach, though he could play in only half of the matches. A powerful leg-side player, Leach had been on Warwickshire’s books for three years in the 1950s. He later earned a CBE after a distinguished career in television management with Tyne Tees and Yorkshire, before returning to cricket as the energetic present chairman of Durham. Fred Harris, with 42 wickets at only 12.52, had his best season, but the support he received from Tony Waite, once of Middlesex, who had been specially registered in 1965 and was now his regular opening partner, was disappointing. One who played in all matches was Brian Poll, the new wicket-keeper, who comfortably surpassed Ben Barnett’s record of 19 catches in a season by holding 32. Never the most stylish of keepers, Poll had the advantage of being naturally left-handed, a great asset in taking balls passing down the leg side. “Yes, he was a bit untidy,” says fast bowler Ray Bond, “but so efficient. From my point of view he didn’t miss much.” In 132 matches, 68 fewer than Walter Franklin, Poll held 68 more catches than the Bucks legend, and in ten separate seasons he exceeded Franklin’s best of 16. But it neatly encapsulates the changes to the game in the intervening decades, and the style of Frank Edwards’ bowling, that Franklin should have claimed 189 more stumpings than Poll. In Slack’s second year things began to click, despite Lever having now moved north. Addressing the need for a spin bowler of quality, the captain brought in Chris Parry. 72 The Slack years: another Championship Brian Poll