Claude Buckenham

Percy Buckenham
Personal information
Full name	Claude Percival Buckenham
Born	16 January 1876; Herne Hill, London, England
Died	23 February 1937 (aged 61); Dundee, Scotland
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm fast
Role	Bowler
International information
National side	England;
Test debut (cap 165)	1 January 1910 v South Africa
Last Test	9 March 1910 v South Africa
Domestic team information
1899–1914	Essex
Career statistics
	Source: CricketArchive, 20 June 2009
Position(s)
Position(s)	Right back
Senior career*
Years	Team
	Santos
International career
	Essex
	Great Britain Olympic
Medal record
Men's football
Representing Great Britain
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Claude Percival Buckenham (16 January 1876 – 23 February 1937) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Essex and England.^[1] He also won a gold medal playing football at the Olympic Games 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, he was more expensive than he perhaps deserved.^[2] 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 against the 1909 Australians, but was then left out of the team: his omission was described by Sydney Pardon, editor of Wisden, as "a fatal blunder" and the selectors' decision not to include a fast bowler at all "touched the confines of lunacy".^[3]

Buckenham's only Test experience came on the 1909-10 tour to South Africa, under the captaincy of H. D. G. Leveson Gower. 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. 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.^[4]

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 football tournament in 1900.^[5] He is one of only four male Test cricketers to compete at the Olympic Games.^[6]

Buckenham retired from first-class cricket in 1914 to become professional at the Scottish club Forfarshire. After serving with the Royal Garrison Artillery in the First World War he became cricket coach at Repton School.^[2]

References

^ "Claude Buckenham". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Obituary, 1937". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (1938 ed.). Wisden. pp. 936–937.
^ "Notes by the Editor". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. Vol. Part I (1910 ed.). Wisden. pp. 171–172.
^ Christopher Martin-Jenkins. The Complete Who's Who of Test Cricketers (1980 ed.). Orbis. p. 27.
^ "Claude Buckenham". Olympedia. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
^ "Olympians Who Played First-Class Cricket". Olympedia. Retrieved 23 August 2021.

Buchanan, Ian British Olympians. Guinness Publishing (1991) ISBN 0-85112-952-8

External links

[1] "Claude Buckenham". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 23 August 2021.

[wis38-2] "Obituary, 1937". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (1938 ed.). Wisden. pp. 936–937.

[3] "Notes by the Editor". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. Vol. Part I (1910 ed.). Wisden. pp. 171–172.

[4] Christopher Martin-Jenkins. The Complete Who's Who of Test Cricketers (1980 ed.). Orbis. p. 27.

[5] "Claude Buckenham". Olympedia. Retrieved 26 December 2020.

[6] "Olympians Who Played First-Class Cricket". Olympedia. Retrieved 23 August 2021.

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