Claude Buckenham

Claude Percival Buckenham, (born 16 January 1876, at Herne Hill, London, and died 23 February 1937, at Dundee, Scotland), was an English first-class cricketer who played for Essex and England.[1]

Percy Buckenham

Personal information
Full name	Claude Percival Buckenham
Born	(1876-01-16)16 January 1876 Herne Hill, London, England
Died	23 February 1937(1937-02-23) (aged 61) Dundee, Scotland
Batting	Right-handed batsman
Bowling	Right-arm fast
Role	Opening 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
Years	Team
1899–1914	Essex
Career statistics
Competition Tests First-class Matches 4 307 Runs scored 43 5641 Batting average 6.14 14.50 100s/50s –/– 2/12 Top score 17 124 Balls bowled 1182 52148 Wickets 21 1150 Bowling average 28.23 25.31 5 wickets in innings 1 85 10 wickets in match – 17 Best bowling 5/115 8/33 Catches/stumpings 2/– 172/–
Source: CricketArchive, 20 June 2009

Olympic medal record
Men's football
Representing  Great Britain
	1900 Paris	Team Competition

Tall and gangling, and with a toothcomb 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.

Buckenham retired in 1914 to become professional at the Scottish club Forfarshire and after serving with Royal Garrison Artillery in the First World War he became cricket coach at Repton School.[2]

References

1. "Olympians Who Played First-Class Cricket". Olympedia. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
2. "Obituary, 1937". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (1938 ed.). Wisden. pp. 936–937.
3. "Notes by the Editor". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. 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.

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