Buckinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of twenty minor

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

clubs within the domestic

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

structure of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. It represents the historic county of

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

. The team is currently a member of the

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship or National County Championship is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national counties (previously ca ...

Eastern Division and plays in the MCCA Knockout Trophy. Buckinghamshire played

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

matches occasionally from 1965 until 2005 but is not classified as a List A team ''per se''. The club has its administrative headquarters at Little Chalfont and plays its matches around the county at various locations including at Wormsley on the Getty Estate. Until 1979 it played regularly at Ascott Park, the home of the

Rothschild family The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish noble banking family originally from Frankfurt. The family's documented history starts in 16th-century Frankfurt; its name is derived from the family house, Rothschild, ...

which was prominent in the club's foundation.

Honours

* Minor Counties Championship (10) - 1922, 1923, 1925, 1932, 1938, 1952, 1969, 1987, 2009, 2023; shared (1) - 1899 * MCCA Knockout Trophy (1) - 1990

Earliest cricket

A match in October 1730 on Datchet Heath (now known as Datchet Common), outside the village of

Datchet Datchet is a village and civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England, on the north bank of the River Thames. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Buckinghamshire, and the Stoke Hundred, the vi ...

near Windsor, is the first reference to cricket in Buckinghamshire. Datchet is nowadays in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

but was historically part of Buckinghamshire. In September 1740, a team called "Buckinghamshire, Berkshire & Hertfordshire" played two matches against the famous

London Cricket Club The original London Cricket Club was formed in 1722 and was one of the foremost clubs in English cricket over the next four decades, holding First-class cricket#Important matches classification, important match status. It is closely associated ...

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon, northwest of Charing Cross. Uxbridge formed part of the parish of Hillingdon in the county of Middlesex. As part ...

and the

Artillery Ground The Artillery Ground in Finsbury is an open space originally set aside for archery and later known also as a cricket venue. Today it is used for military exercises, cricket, rugby and football matches. It belongs to the Honourable Artillery Comp ...

. London won the first "with great difficulty" but no post-match report was found of the second. In 1759, an All-England team that played three matches against the noted Dartford Cricket Club included a wicketkeeper called Gill from Buckinghamshire. The same player almost certainly featured in another All-England team in 1772. A number of games involving Buckinghamshire teams are mentioned in newspapers of the late 18th century. Unlike neighbouring

, Buckinghamshire was never considered a first-class county.

Origin of club

The present Buckinghamshire CCC was founded on 15 January 1891 as "Bucks County Cricket Club" with the

prominent in its formation. Family member Anthony Gustav de Rothschild even represented the club.

Club history

Buckinghamshire joined the Minor Counties Championship in the competition's second season, 1896. Buckinghamshire declined an invitation to join the first-class

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

in 1921 because of the lack of first-class facilities in the county. Buckinghamshire has won the Championship outright ten times (1922, 1923, 1925, 1932, 1938, 1952, 1969, 1987, 2009 and 2023) and shared the title in 1899 with

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

. In 2006, they won the Eastern Division, but lost in the final to

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

. Buckinghamshire has won the MCCA Knockout Trophy once since its inception in 1983, in 1990, defeating

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

in the final at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

The most successful period for the county came under the captaincy of Walter Franklin, who led them to five Championships in the 1920s and 1930s. The county first played

List A cricket List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the num ...

in the 1965 Gillette Cup against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. The county appeared in 32 List A matches from 1965 to 2005, winning eight and losing 24, the majority of which against first-class opponents. The county claimed a first-class scalp once, defeating

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

in the 1987 NatWest Trophy. Buckinghamshire lost the right to play List A cricket when the Minor counties were excluded from the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy from the 2006 season onward.

Notable players

:''See List of Buckinghamshire CCC List A players and :Buckinghamshire cricketers'' The following Buckinghamshire cricketers also made an impact on the first-class game: * Ben Barnett *

Hartley Alleyne Hartley Leroy Alleyne (born 28 February 1957) is a former Barbadian first-class cricketer: a right-handed batsman and right-arm fast bowler who played for Barbados, Worcestershire, Kent and Natal between 1978–79 and 1989–90. He also playe ...

* Wilf Slack * Phil Newport * Keith Medlycott *

Alex Hales Alexander Daniel Hales (born 3 January 1989) is an English cricketer. He is a right-handed opening batter who represented the England cricket team across all formats and played domestically for Nottinghamshire. He made his One Day International ...

1st XI Grounds

The club have no fixed home, but play their matches at various grounds across the county. Grounds used for the 2011 season included: *Gerrards Cross Cricket Club Ground,

Gerrards Cross Gerrards Cross is a town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England. It lies immediately south of Chalfont St Peter and a short distance west of the London Borough of Hillingdon, from which it is separated by the parish of Denham, Buckinghams ...

* London Road,

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye, Buckinghamshire, River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, ...

* Tring Park Cricket Club Ground, Tring (in neighbouring

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

)

References

External links

Buckinghamshire County Cricket Club website

National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA) Official Site