Lives in Cricket No 27 - CB Llewellyn

98 Chapter Eighteen Radcliffe The comparative strength of the Leagues, once the Bradford League had lost its wartime county professionals after the First World War is difficult to calculate, but if the Bolton and District Association was a little below the Lancashire League, the reason was the limited number of star professionals participating in their matches. Dick Tyldesley of Lancashire and England was a product of the League, while Pat Morfee, the fast bowler formerly of Kent, like Buck had transferred from the Lancashire League, and later Buck found a few other well-known pros playing for opposing teams. The Association was the oldest of the northern leagues, founded in 1898, and during the 1920s, 84 teams mustered in various sections. A rift developed between those clubs which considered themselves a cut above the rest and in 1930, 12 of them broke away and formed the Bolton Cricket League, of which more later. The town of Radcliffe, where Buck was to spend the last eleven years of his cricket career, deserves some description. It lies two and a half miles south-west of Bury, in an area with large coal deposits, whose development during the industrial revolution transformed the town, which also prospered by cotton-spinning and paper-making. By the middle of the nineteenth century, a road, canal and railway network converged there. Radcliffe, like so many of its neighbours, remained prosperous until the mid- twentieth century, thanks to its textile, spinning and paper mills. The latter included the East Lancashire Paper Mill which, with Llewellyn’s assistance, later became one of the strongest sides in the Bolton area. Buck’s new club had not had a very distinguished record in its recent past. In the three previous seasons they had finished ninth, sixth and eighth, but with his assistance they did at least increase their number of victories to eight in 1926, but they could still finish no higher than eighth. It was never likely in 1926 that the team would prosper after Buck’s very moderate start with the bat. Not until their seventh match did he play an innings of substance; and his score of 62, in