Lives in Cricket No 27 - CB Llewellyn

67 of the South African team, received a remunerative offer for next season from Accrington … and in consequence decided to make the journey notwithstanding that by so doing he would lose his qualification for Hampshire. The engagement with the Accrington Club, I understand, would not necessarily prevent him appearing here again … . Englishmen will probably see him taking part in first-class matches in this country again in 1912 … in the Triangular Tournament. His decision has naturally been received with sincere regret by Hampshire folk. Cricket concluded: ‘There would seem to be a probability of the county bringing the matter before the authorities at Lord’s with a view to the disqualification being enforced.’ Such matters were of little concern in the Lancashire League and in 1911, Buck took his place in the Accrington side, but not before a final blast-off from the south coast, as reported in Cricket a few weeks later: Referring to the decision of Llewellyn to join the Accrington club, Dr Bencraft said that everyone in Hampshire was sorry he had seen fit to sever his connection with the county. ‘The reason was he considered he ought to have exceptional terms … . The Committee did not see how they could differentiate between players. Cricket clubs did not pay by results and preferential treatment was bound to cause discontent [my italics] … Newman had been offered the post Llewellyn had accepted, but had the courage and loyalty to stick to those who had stuck to him.’ In this little tirade, Bencraft revealed all too clearly his chagrin at losing his star player, who had enjoyed such a successful season in 1910, coupled with a feeling that rarely overcame him in the course of a long and successful life; that he had been taken for a ride. In writing as he did he was also reflecting the bewilderment and disappointment of many Hampshire supporters directed against the county executive. Llewellyn later said that it was not an argument over terms that caused his departure from the county; he had to go where he could earn a salary sufficient to maintain his wife and four young daughters of whom the eldest was approaching ten years of age. ‘Cricket Clubs did not pay by results?’ What, one asks, about bonus payments to professionals? Bencraft’s reference to Jack Newman may or may not be true, but it implied that by Bencraft’s own standards, courage and loyalty were lacking in Buck. Imagine a county chairman expressing himself in those terms today! The editor of Wisden , Sydney Pardon, struck a much more positive Events Minute By Minute