Lives in Cricket No 27 - CB Llewellyn

104 Radcliffe and is only leaving them because of the depressed industrial situation in the district. They … cannot afford to pay him the high wage he has been receiving … . Buck’s figures for the season, 80 wickets at 9.93, showed a considerable falling off, while his batting was almost negligible, as he put together only 274 runs averaging 18.27 and Radcliffe clearly felt that in his fifty-sixth year, they had seen the best of him. It would be interesting to know how Francis’ pay, which at £400 for the season, was believed to be a record for a league professional, compared with Buck’s, but the inference must be that the latter’s remuneration was on the generous side. The Barbadian’s bowling figures for 1933 were no better than Llewellyn’s had been – 75 wickets at 12.97 each – and Radcliffe fell from sixth to eighth in the league table. Yet, Francis was still regarded as good enough to play in one Test match for the West Indies against England that summer. For the first time since he joined Hampshire in 1899, Buck did not have another cricketing billet. His name does not figure in any major league for 1933.