History of Bucks CCC

The celebratory dinner at the Bellhouse, Beaconsfield, was marked by the presentation of a silver salver to the captain, whose last season this was to be. He had taken time away from his legal practice to serve Bucks and he now resumed a distinguished career that very soon saw him appointed a recorder and thereafter become one of the first solicitors to sit as a circuit judge. For many years he dispensed justice at Aylesbury and later brought courtroom discipline to the deliberations of the County Cricket Club committee as its chairman. “Meetings were always over by ten o’clock,” says Jack Tomlin, manifesting his admiration. There had been an important change off the field during John Slack’s time in charge. In 1969 Tony Prince retired as secretary and was replaced by Paul Slatter. Slatter had been honorary treasurer since 1956 and was now to serve in both capacities for the next 16 years. He had been designated as team manager from 1961, and from 1964 he was assisted in this role by Horace Perrin as team secretary; but it was Slatter of whom so many who played over the next two decades would say that he was Bucks cricket, a man whose passion for the cause knew no bounds. “He wore his heart on his sleeve,” says John Slack, and if the team were in a tight corner successive captains grew to expect Slatter to increase the tension. “He got incredibly emotional about games as they unfolded,” David Mackintosh remembers. Stuart York, who played in the 1970s, agrees: “He was very nervous. If it was a tight finish he was never watching – he was behind the pavilion.” As befitted a bank manager, Paul Slatter’s careful husbandry of Bucks’ finances was not the least of his assets, while the yearbooks bear witness to his command of language and reveal an exceptionally detailed record of the county’s fluctuating fortunes. In all he did Slatter was the consummate professional; yet those who played in the team have no recollection that he had ever played the game, and several felt that his understanding of cricket’s subtleties did not match his readiness to offer opinions. There was a bit of a love/hate relationship between Slatter and Perrin, it has been suggested, with Perrin’s organisation and punctuality not always matching Slatter’s exacting standards. Perrin was principally responsible for team administration and for getting eleven men on the field. “He’d have anything between nine and thirteen when we got there,” one captain quipped, while another remembered that Perrin, a keen compiler of statistics who did most of the scoring, could create panic by arriving at the eleventh hour just as someone else was preparing to deputise. Gillette Cup excitement: Chris Parry & David Mackintosh Under the leadership of Chris Parry, who succeeded John Slack in 1970, Bucks retained a place in the upper half of the table, twice qualifying for the Gillette Cup and reaching fourth spot in 1973, the last of his four years in charge. The 1970 Gillette campaign opened with a convincing win against Bedfordshire, followed by a chastening defeat at Chesham, where Barry Reed’s undefeated 143 in a Hampshire total of 278 for 3 was at that time the highest individual score in the competition apart from Geoff Boycott’s 146 in the 1965 final. The Hampshire match had started on a disquieting note as the visitors complained that no towels had been provided in their dressing room, obliging Paul Slatter to rush off to the town centre to put matters right. “We minor counties players expected to bring our 76 Gillette Cup excitement: Chris Parry & David Mackintosh Paul Slatter