Lives in Cricket No 27 - CB Llewellyn

57 smallish innings in discouraging circumstances followed in the return match against Gloucestershire at Bournemouth. His 47 in Hampshire’s mediocre first innings before he was run out still saw the visitors 33 ahead at the halfway mark, which turned out to be an immense advantage as Hampshire collapsed for the second time against George Dennett, the clever slow left-arm bowler. His 12 wickets for 88 in the match, including that of Buck caught for 33 – the only individual score over 20 on the second and last day of the match – enabled Gloucestershire to scramble to 49 for six to win. With the aid of six wickets for Hambledon against All England on Broadhalfpenny Down in September, in a match arranged to commemorate the eighteenth-century cricketers of the old Hambledon Club, and his victims in MCC games earlier in the season, Buck claimed over 100 wickets and accomplished the double, achieving the feat for the first time since 1901. In Wisden 1909, the references to Buck’s performances the previous season were complimentary: He played some dashing innings and often proved effective with the ball … . As an all-round player, he was undoubtedly the best in the county, and if not quite reaching the standard, either as batsman or bowler, which rendered him invaluable when he first qualified, the South African showed a welcome return to form. This was most opportune as the match with Kent was set aside for his benefit … . * * * * * * * The year 1909 began disastrously as Surrey trounced Hampshire at The Oval by the huge margin of an innings and 468 runs, which remains Hampshire’s most outrageous defeat, while Surrey’s total (742) is still the largest score against them. Jack Hobbs (205) and Ernie Hayes (276) shared in a partnership of 371 which occupied only 165 minutes and was at that date the sixth highest in first- class cricket. Buck’s bowling figures – none for 141 – compared unfavourably with those of George Brown who dismissed two batsmen for 116, Jack Newman (two for 133) and Phil Mead (four for 179) while Buck scored no more than nine and one. Only C.B.Fry, who celebrated his first appearance for Hampshire with innings of 42 and 60, emerged with any credit. A six-wicket victory over the weak Somerset side at Southampton, in which Buck contributed scores of 26 and 34 not out and secured one for 63 in the two innings, was small compensation. The Beneficiary