Buckingham are relegated after final day defeat

Knowing a win wouldn’t necessarily be enough Buckingham won the toss and asked Gerrards Cross to bat first in their final game of the 2024 season. A green pitch didn’t offer the assistance they were hoping for though as Chris Marrow pulled the first ball of the match to the boundary and he, alongside Fahim Qureshi, made a positive start for the visitors.

The bowlers looked ineffective as the Buckingham pitch played better than it had done for a long time. Both batsmen scored fluently against the seamers with Marrow the first to reach his half-century (49 balls) followed by Qureshi the following over (69 balls). The introduction of spin slowed the rate as James Gear opened with the first maiden of the innings, but it was Joe Clark that struck first after the drinks break when Qureshi top-edged a big hit to be caught for 67.

Gear then removed the new batsman Ben Lane for a duck in the next over as Buckingham sensed a chance to get back into the game. That hope was soon doused though as Marrow continued to look untroubled and was joined by Henry Walsh who, after playing himself in for 8 or 9 balls, looked to go on the attack against the spinners. He dominated a partnership of 84, scoring 53 from just 32 balls.

In the meantime Marrow carried on and brought up his century from 116 balls as the pair set up Gerrards Cross for the last 10 overs. The reintroduction of Jake Tarling broke the stand when Walsh tried to be a little too cute and lost his middle stump attempting a scoop over the keeper’s head. Marrow ensured the platform was wasted though as he went on to finish 129 not out, supported by Teddy Fleming (13 off 11) and Najeeb Malik (24 not out off 15) as 68 runs in the last 10 overs saw Gerrards Cross finish 307 for 4.

With no option but to go for the runs Tarling and Araash Raja came out with positive intent, putting on an opening stand of 46 in just seven overs. Gerrards Cross skipper Patrick Smith broke the stand though when Tarling edged him to slip for 20 before Wasim Ahmed removed both Raja (23) and Dylan Van Der Westhuizen in consecutive overs as the season long problem of losing wickets in clusters left Buckingham 50 for 3.

With the club’s Home Counties status fading Chad Barrett and Dan Blacktopp offered some hope with a fourth wicket stand 74 at better than a run a ball. The partnership was broken though when Barrett edged Finn Collins behind for 32 and from that point the chase faltered.

Blacktopp went on to bring up a run a ball half century before edging Fleming to slip for 52 and from 148 for 5 wickets fell regularly. Rahil Zaman and Oscar Phillips hit some late boundaries but the hosts were bowled out in the 39th over for 190 to lose by 117 runs.

As it turned out a win for Bicester & North Oxford meant Buckingham’s fate was sealed regardless of their result, and the club will now need to regroup as they return to the Cherwell League for the first time since they won the title in 2014.