Claude Percival Buckenham (16 January 1876 – 23 February 1937) was an English

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

er who played for

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

and

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 ...

. He also won a gold medal playing

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

in 1900.

Life and career

Tall and gangling, and with a distinctive moustache, Percy Buckenham was a fast bowler and a useful lower order batsman. He played for Essex from 1899 to 1914, but suffered, particularly in his early years, from slipshod fielding which meant, according to his obituary in ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

'', he was more expensive than he perhaps deserved. His career average, at more than 25, is high for the era in which he played. The 1906 season was the first in which he took more than 100 wickets, and he played several representative matches over the next few English seasons without breaking into the Test match team in England. He was picked in the squad for the fifth Test at

The Oval The Oval, currently named for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club sinc ...

against the 1909 Australians, but was then left out of the team: his omission was described by

Sydney Pardon Sydney Herbert Pardon (23 September 1855 – 20 November 1925) was a sports journalist who was the editor of ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'' for 35 editions, from 1891 until his death. His father was the journalist George Frederick Pardon. He t ...

, editor of ''Wisden'', as "a fatal blunder" and the selectors' decision not to include a fast bowler at all "touched the confines of lunacy". Buckenham's only Test experience came on the 1909-10 tour to South Africa, under the captaincy of

H. D. G. Leveson Gower Sir Henry Dudley Gresham Leveson Gower ( ; 8 May 1873 – 1 February 1954) was an English cricketer from the Leveson-Gower family. He played first-class cricket for Oxford University and Surrey and captained England in Test cricket. His school n ...

. In four Tests, he took 21 wickets at 28 runs apiece, including five for 115 in the first South African innings of the third Test at

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. But though he had his most productive season in 1911, with 134 first-class wickets, he was considered too old for the 1911-12 tour to Australia. Buckenham was a good amateur footballer and played county soccer for Essex. He played right-back for the Upton Park F.C. team that won the inaugural

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

tournament in 1900. He is one of only four male Test cricketers to compete at the Olympic Games. Buckenham retired from first-class cricket in 1914 to become professional at the Scottish club Forfarshire. After serving with the

Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Artillery, Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse ...

in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he became cricket coach at

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 co-educational, private, boarding and day school in the public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, England. Sir John Port of Etwall, on his death in 1557, left funds to create a grammar school which was th ...

References

* Buchanan, Ian ''British Olympians''. Guinness Publishing (1991)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buckenham, Claude 1876 births 1937 deaths Military personnel from the London Borough of Southwark England Test cricketers English cricketers English Olympic competitors Essex cricketers English men's footballers Olympic footballers for Great Britain Footballers at the 1900 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain People from Herne Hill Footballers from the London Borough of Southwark Cricketers from the London Borough of Southwark Footballers from the London Borough of Lambeth Upton Park F.C. players Olympic medalists in football Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers North v South cricketers Players cricketers East of England cricketers Medalists at the 1900 Summer Olympics Men's association football fullbacks Royal Garrison Artillery soldiers S. H. Cochrane's XI cricketers L. G. Robinson's XI cricketers Lord Londesborough's XI cricketers P. F. Warner's XI cricketers British Army personnel of World War I Marylebone Cricket Club South African Touring Team cricketers Cricketers from the London Borough of Lambeth Military personnel from the London Borough of Lambeth