Lives in Cricket No 27 - CB Llewellyn

15 Chapter Three Out of Africa As a bowler, Buck may have seen enough of Captain Poore; Poore had seen enough of Llewellyn to decide that he was worthy of recommendation to Hampshire Country Cricket Club. If we except occasional appearances for Wiltshire in 1888 and 1889, Poore had not played in county cricket until he turned out for Hampshire in 15 matches during 1898, when he was already 32 years of age. He did well, hitting two centuries and averaging 28. This was a record of which a professional debutant would have been proud, and when he recommended Buck the interest of the Hampshire authorities was aroused. They cabled Llewellyn an invitation. For some time he was unenthusiastic, possibly because the authorities in Transvaal also began to take an interest in him. At this stage, Dan Taylor intervened to encourage him to accept Hampshire’s offer. His son, Herby Taylor, who was only ten years old at this time, recalled over 70 years later: ‘My father and some of his colleagues were so impressed with his potential that they raised the money to send him to England for a trial with Hampshire.’ Taylor added, ‘In other words, he went to England on the same basis that Basil D’Oliveira did, and like Basil has done, he made a success of it. Mind you, I wouldn’t say he was quite as educated or cultured as Basil … .’ So Buck decided to go; a farewell match was held for him and he was presented with a purse of gold, which was described as ‘a tangible mark of the esteem in which he is held by Natal cricketers’. With these words of encouragement, he took ship on 15 April 1899. His colleagues all knew that he was well out of it; the second Boer War started for real on 11October that year, while non-whites were to suffer increasing restrictions in the twentieth century. In Southampton, his arrival was eagerly awaited. There the version of how he was introduced to Hampshire does not concur with his introduction by Captain Poore. The first reference to Buck in the County Committee minutes, dated 21 March 1899, arose from a letter from A.S.Webb, a professional batsman for the club, who spent several winters coaching in South Africa,