Lives in Cricket No 27 - CB Llewellyn

27 In his second season, events turned out very differently. Buck’s performances were outstanding, his county’s play was abysmal and quite a lot of his action was for another club. In 1902, Greig, E.I.M.Barrett and Wynyard did not play at all, while Sprot, Webb and Barton were out of form and Poore could play only twice. Playing in 15 of the county’s 16 championship fixtures in a list reduced by two, Llewellyn headed both sets of averages. He also appeared nine times for W.G.’s London County club, doing little with the bat, but capturing 71 wickets at an average of 18.22 each. London County had already played two matches before the counties participating in the Championship had played at all. Hampshire were not due to meet another county until the middle of May. Llewellyn did little in the first match he played for W.G., but in the second – both were against Surrey, back to back – at The Oval he hit up an undefeated 65, sharing in stands of 85 with C.J.B.Wood of Leicestershire and 57 with Jack Board, the Gloucestershire wicketkeeper, before dismissing Abel, Brockwell and Hayes to finish with five wickets for 70, so playing a major part in London County’s nine-wicket victory. Next, for the same side, he dismissed five Warwickshire batsmen in each innings in a drawn match at Edgbaston. To play for W.G. was beguiling. The strength of his teams often depended on how many of the Championship counties were without fixtures and so able to release players; in the two Surrey games, W.G. with more or less a free hand, led teams including Wood, G.W.Beldam, W.L.Murdoch, the former Australian and Sussex captain, C.B.Fry, Len Braund and Jack Board. Buck followed with success against the touring side, Joe Darling’s Australians, in a match at Crystal Palace which began on 5 May. Darling won the toss and decided to bat, but may have regretted this when Buck soon bowled Duff and Clem Hill and followed with three further successes, having Syd Gregory and Darling caught and tempting the number 10, Howell, to give a catch to W.G. London County led on the first innings by 118, and Buck soon secured another three wickets, adding Noble to his second set of scalps – Duff and Hill. Rain featured largely in the match on all three days, restricting play to 15 minutes on the last day, but Trumper, Darling and Armstrong had all scored with ease, before the inevitable draw. He had time to help London County to a win by ten wickets against MCC at Lord’s in which he had seven victims, and to participate in a drawn match with Cambridge University at Fenner’s. It is worth noting that he bowled 35 overs in the Lord’s game, immediately followed by as many as 64 against the University. Marriage