History of Bucks CCC

Bucks were now assured of finishing at the top of the table. Only a successful challenge could deprive them of the title. A curiosity of the scoring system was that if Bucks lost the next match the Championship was theirs. This was because victory for Bedfordshire would lift that county into second place, and only a county that had not previously played the championship leaders could issue a challenge. But a Bucks win would take Cornwall into second place and give them the right to challenge. The match at Ascott Park duly ended with Bucks all out for just 72 in their second innings, the losers by 118 runs. “I think by the time we got to our second innings nobody was very interested,” says John Slack. The season nevertheless ended on a more uplifting note at Beaconsfield when Norfolk’s last man contrived to be run out off the final ball, giving Bucks victory by not one but two runs! Only the captain played in all the matches, but Turner, the mainstay of the batting, missed only one. Though not related to the eponymous owners, he was one of the main beneficiaries of employment at Ernest Turner’s. Scoring enough runs proved to be the main challenge, especially as Janes was out of form, but Roy Huntley and Tom Hickling from Chesham both played several useful innings, as did Atkins and Ken Young in their few appearances. The bowlers were the strength of the side with Lever heading the averages and Harris, Parry and Waite, another Ernest Turner employee, all taking at least 35 wickets at under 15 each. The captain’s ‘positive and attacking spirit’ was highlighted in the yearbook. Contemporaries have spoken of him as being in the Brearley mould. “He seemed to get the best out of people,” says Ian Feasey, who also admired his tactical acumen: “I remember being sent out into the long field at Turner’s against Suffolk. Fred Harris was bowling and one of their best batsmen came in, a chap called English. They’d obviously worked him out that he liked to pick the ball up off his legs in front of square. I was sent out into the deep and, sure enough, after a few overs he hit it straight to me.” The Slack years: another Championship 75 John Slack and his team Standing: Chris Parry, Ray Bond, Roy Huntley, John Turner, Brian Poll, Tony Waite, Keith McAdam Seated: Colin Lever, Chris Pickett, Sir John Aubrey-Fletcher (President) , John Slack, David Janes