Founded in 1930, the Buccaneers is a wandering cricket club with Sunday fixtures, some all day, played throughout the South East of England including in Oxfordshire, Surrey, Sussex and London.
"Let us take our stand and play the game, but rather for the cause than for the fame"
Why not join us for the Annual Dinner, held at the East India Club, Pall Mall on Thursday 28 October 2021 at 18.45.
Mark Milliken-Smith QC has been asked to propose the toast to the Club. Mark has been a Buccaneer, including on the ’93 tour to South Africa, is a member at Brook where the Hon Sec hit him on the head some years ago! He has represented a lot of high-profile sports people across a range of sports and is on the ECB’s Discipline Commission and was recently appointed Chair of the MCC’s Disciplinary Panel. He’ll be keeping a close eye on behaviour on the night!
Why not also attend the annual Annual General Meeting before Dinner at 18.30. The agenda for the AGM can be found here.
To book your Dinner ticket, please contact David Close at dclose@griffithsandarmour.com or on 07947 370069.
Follie’s Farm, as always, delivered a blisteringly sunny September day for us to play out a 40 over game in good spirits, supported by roast pork sandwiches and crisp Provençal rosé.
Buccaneers arrived slightly short staffed with 10, waiting for S Moules to lose a morning cricket tournament and make the train journey to Godalming.
The Bucc’s batted first and Follie’s struck early, capitalising on an uncharacteristically cavalier Eswar Kalidasan, dabbing a third swipe of the bat to cover on his 4th ball of the innings. Berry held firm for a few more overs facing a fairly mild-paced opening pair without treading on square legs toes. Jeremy Milne came to the crease at Eswar’s demise and rolled back the years with some incredible reading of the occasional uneven bounce and seam. He delivered a mature 43 partnering firstly with young Charlie Leefe, who very characteristically smashed two sixes followed by straight forward catch and out for 29. Milne senior and junior were the pick of the Bucc’s batsmen working well together and remarkably not running each other out. Ludo came agonisingly close to his maiden ton with 89 not out, Tom Fletcher shutting up shop at the other end for 11 from many, many balls. Bucc’s closed out the innings with 221 from our 40 overs.
All star all rounder Ludo Milne opened up the bowling with debutant Thomas ‘Show me the Money’ Chaumet at the other end. Ludo eagerly delivered with 3 maidens and a wicket from his first 4 overs. Chaumet providing some support at the other end but without a wicket to show for it. With the first and second changes came a slight lull in the Buccaneers wicket taking statistics. With messieurs Barson and Griffiths sitting comfortably at the crease scoring 72 and 43 respectively, before eventually falling to Okines & Moules. With 8 overs to go Follies needed 82 to win and the game started to look just out of reach. At close of play Follie’s Farm posted 193 for 6 and fell 29 runs short of the required total.
A lovely day and match in the sun was closed out with some good conversation and even better scampi and sausage rolls accompanied by a couple more bottles of blush, before carriages at 19.30.
Buccaneers won by 33 runs
Innings of Buccaneers
A Berry st CSD b Hicks 17 E kalidasan ct Bell b Kirkham 2 J Milne b Hicks 43 C Leefe ct Maunder b Bell 29 L Milne not out 89 S Leefe ct CSD b M Barson T Chaumet b M Barson 0 T Fletcher not out 11
Extras 29 Total 226-6 (40 overs)
Bowling Hicks 8-0-24-2 Kirkham 8-1-56-1 Bell 8-1-35-1 Griffiths 6-0-31-0 T Barson 2-0-29-0 M Barson 8-3-26-2 3
Innings of Follies Farm Old Spots
Lumley b L Milne 0 Palmer stumped b S Leefe 22 Barson ct [ ] b Okines 72 Griffiths stumped b Moules 43 Maunder not out 20 Sandamore not out 18
Extras 17 Total 193-4 (40 overs)
Bowling L Milne 8-3-23-1 T Chaumet 6-0-32-0 S Leefe 8-1-24-1 A Berry 5-0-21-0 R Hobbs 3-0-28-0 W Okines 4-0-23-1
The only thing different this year was the welcome return of the match tea. In most other respects it was a repeat of the 2020 fixture, with Warborough & Shillingford comfortably holding on for a draw but without challenging the target. How we yearned for a repeat of that famous draw when scores were level.
This game, too, included a notorious run out. Asked to bat on a bright morning, the Buccaneers began in calamitous fashion. Taking rather too seriously his opening partner’s comment that he had his laptop and plenty of work to do by the boundary’s edge, Angus Berry saw off Eswar Kalidasan in a yes-no-sorry mix-up. From then on it seemed plain sailing, at least until the uneven bounce became no bounce, and both James Marsh and Angus Berry were bowled in quick succession after deliciously fluent 30s. Enter the old guard. Going through the gears, rolling back the years, Simon Leefe and Rob Rydon notched another century partnership and set the platform for the selfless Archie Marsh, the crisp-hitting Stephen Moules and the still-unbeaten-at this ground Tom Fletcher to bash the Buccs to a declaration at 245-6 from 40 overs. The final 5 overs were 5-0-62-3.
From then on the game, like the bounce, somewhat died. Will Metcalfe opened up proceedings and was unlucky not to draw first blood. Angus Berry whirled delightfully at the other end, bowling a fabulous opening spell that brought two wickets. The first atoned for the captain’s botched run-out attempt, the second bamboozled everyone with drift, bounce and movement. The pitch was made for James Marsh to be match-winner but, alas, a migraine immobilised him. W&S’s provision of a replacement fielder on rotation was much appreciated, and perhaps they should have been thrown the ball, but as it was all 9 Buccaneers outfielders had a try but in the end failed to extract enough from an increasingly lifeless pitch and an increasingly determined batting card. When it was – perhaps belatedly – Simon Leefe and Rob Rydon’s turn, they both made breakthroughs, Rob Rydon making the ball talk more than it had at any time in the match. Perhaps with a bit more sharpness in the field and some luck with the marginal LBW decisions, we could have taken all 10. Perhaps we should have declared sooner. As it was, after 47 overs of doughty defence, the game drew to a close and the players ambled to the Six Bells to reflect on the day. Hoping that next year sees the return of the famous luncheon. And perhaps a different result.
Innings of Buccaneers Angus Berry b Hassan 31 Eswar Kalidasan run out (Johnson / Ward† / Hassan) 0 James Marsh b Hassan 33 Simon Leefe run out (Rainbow / Ward†) 47 Rob Rydon c Rainbow b Hanson 62 Archie Marsh st Ward† b Iswariah 11 S Moules not out 23 Tom Fletcher not out 5 Extras (6 byes, 3 leg-byes, 8 wides, 13 no-balls) 30
Total (6 wickets, 40 overs) 245 Fall of wickets: 1−1, 2−72, 3−73, 4−184, 5−216, 6−218
Bowling Ian Potter 5 0 20 0 Junaid Hassan 11 3 41 2 James Tilley 7 2 29 0 Logan Rainbow 4 0 21 0 Adrian Zagoritis 5 0 29 0 Jamie Hanson 4 0 48 1 Rohan Iswariah 3 0 29 1 Andy Hobbs 1 0 21 0
Innings of Warborough & Shillingford Andy Hobbs lbw b Okines 61 Ian Potter c Okines b Berry 1 *Adrian Zagoritis b Berry 11 Rohan Iswariah not out 34 Freddie McElwaine-Johnn b Rydon 26 Logan Rainbow b Leefe 1 James Tilley not out 8 Extras (6 byes, 3 wides, 1 no-ball) 10
B Purchase b Wedge-Bull 14 A Gunshaw ct b Berry 73 H Radhakrishan b Wedge-Bull 5 A Lubbock run out 17 A Searle ct b Berry 6 S O’Leary B Hobbs 20 D Farland ct b Rydon 54 O Saunders ct b Hobbs 0 E Hyman ct b Wedge-Bull 35 A Chappell not out 1 Extras 4
229-9 (40 overs)
Bowling
Wedde-Bull 8-0-41-3 R Rydon 8-0-43-1 J Marsh 5-0-34-0 A Berry 7-0-37-2 S Leefe 4-0-24-0 R Hobbs 5-0-25-2 Machin 3-0-25-0
Innings of Buccaneers
A Berry b Hyman 31 E Khalidasan ct & b Searle 26 C Leefe b Hyman 11 J Marsh b Farland 31 S Leefe lbw Quinn 21 R Rydon b Farland 3 E Wedge-Bull ct b Hyman 36 S Moules ct b Searle 13 H Machin run out 15 T Fletcher not out 17 R Hobbs ct b Hyman 2 Extras 10
Total 220 all out
Bowling
A Chappell 7-0-41-1 A Searle 8-1-50-2 E Hyman 8-0-30-3 D Farland 8-1-32-2 C Quinn 5-0-40-1 A Lubbock 4-0-18-0
After a 9.00am discussion with the OHJ’s manager, it was decided to chance it , even though the forecast was dodgy. Driving through Hurstpierpoint in torrential rain tested the optimism of even the captain. It was obvious we were not going to start on time, but some port at midday and an early lunch soothed the grumbles (mainly from the umpires).
Play started at 2.15pm with the captain opening the batting with his middle son. All proceeded smoothly and just shy of the fifty run partnership, Rob decided to hit a short ball to midwicket. James Marsh entered the fray, hit a few impressive shots and then lofted one to mid on. Meanwhile, Alex Rydon upped the tempo and accelerated to a fifty but was then caught on the boundary. Pace was taken off and after Jim Mann was out we found it increasingly difficult to penetrate the inner ring. It wasn’t until numbers 10 and 11 (Harry Mann and Ed Howes) saw the clock ticking down that the runs started to flow. 149 for 9 was a fair declaration with only Tom Rydon failing to get to the crease. The OHJ’s returned to the pavilion damp and bedraggled.
With no little irony, Tea was taken in glorious sunshine Then on to the cricket, with Harry Mann steaming in from the top end . His brother, Olly freshened the oppo captain from the bottom end with a waist high no ball full toss with his first delivery. The second elicited an edge and dad Jim pouched it at first slip. In the third over, Mark Semmence, a true run machine against the Buccs, was dropped at second slip. It was a sharp head high chance. Second slip had asked to go there as he claimed to be the best catcher in the team. The captain hoped it would not prove costly. It turned out not to be as yet another shower came down and the umpires had had enough and called proceedings to a halt.
A crowd gathered to hear the closing speeches and listen to the Last Post as the flag was lowered on the OHJ’s 100th cricket week.
Innings of Buccaneers
R.RYDON 30 A.RYDON 50 J.MARSH 12 J.MANN 12 T.FLETCHER 22 A.BERRY 0 A.MARSH 4 O.MANN 0 H.MANN NOT OUT 7 E.HOWE NOT OUT 11 T.RYDON DNB
149 FOR 9 DEC
M. HARRISON 6.2.19-0 D.BURSTOW 4.0.14.0 J.LOWNDES 3.0.28.1 P.MCGAHON 5.1.24.1 S.HALL 10.1.39.4 R.HICKMAN 7.2.25.2
Innings of OHJ
C.VIGGON NOT OUT 8 S.WARRENDER CT J.MANN BWLD O.MANN 0 M.SEMMENCE NOT OUT 2
Fall of Wickets :1-1 Charlie Weir (H Azad-0*); 66-2 H Azad (Alex Pedley-17*); 68-3 T Silva (Alex Pedley-17*); 121-4 Jayson Butler (Alex Pedley-50*); 123-5 Geoffrey Lawrence (Alex Pedley-50*); 160-6 Scott Pedley (Alex Pedley-67*); 160-7 Abidine Sakande (Alex Pedley-67*); 161-8 Alex Pedley (S Syed-1*); 182-9 George Lawrence (S Syed-7*);
* = not out batter
Bowling
Bowler
Overs
Maidens
Runs
Wickets
Wides
No Balls
C Milne
7
1
35
2
3
1
L Milne
6
0
26
1
0
0
H Robertson
7
1
43
2
3
3
R Rydon
7
1
27
0
0
0
S Leefe
6
0
37
3
1
0
C McGregor
2
0
15
0
0
2
Fielding Extras/Non-bowler wickets
6
2
Total
35
3
189
9
9
6
The Buccaneers
Batting
Name
How Out
Bowler
Runs
4s
6s
Balls
E Kalesdisan
b K Daniels
34
6
0
48
A Berry
ct Abidine Sakande
b Jayson Butler
14
3
0
26
R Rydon
b K Daniels
1
0
0
4
A Valentine
ct K Daniels
b Charlie Weir
5
0
0
22
S Leefe
st Geoffrey Lawrence
b K Daniels
0
0
0
4
T Fletcher
ct Abidine Sakande
b Charlie Weir
0
0
0
7
C McGregor
b George Lawrence
1
0
0
4
L Milne
b H Azad
55
6
2
41
C Milne
ct Abidine Sakande
b George Lawrence
26
6
0
19
H Robertson
b Abidine Sakande
26
4
0
21
H Fletcher
not out
0
0
0
1
Extras
lb (1), w (6)
7
Total
169
Wickets
all out
* = Captain, † = Wicket Keeper
Overs
32.4
Fall of Wickets :48-1 A Berry (E Kalesdisan-29*); 49-2 R Rydon (E Kalesdisan-29*); 58-3 E Kalesdisan (A Valentine-3*); 60-4 S Leefe (A Valentine-5*); 60-5 A Valentine (T Fletcher-0*); 61-6 T Fletcher (C McGregor-1*); 61-7 C McGregor (L Milne-0*); 103-8 C Milne (L Milne-16*); 160-9 L Milne (H Robertson-17*); 169-10 H Robertson (H Fletcher-0*);
The weather forecast was not a happy one: light showers to be followed by heavier rain in the late afternoon. Both sides were keen to bat first, but Bryant lost the toss and Frensham put the Buccaneers in the field under a predicted light shower that soon became persistent light rain. Hamish Robertson and Steve Moules opened the bowling very tidily; the batsmen not playing many scoring shots but, as usual on this ground, the runs started coming in fours. Steve took his first wicket in the sixth over and then another in his next. Still the rain came down in a light drizzle and the umpire left it to the players to decide whether or not we should continue. All credit to Frensham, their batsmen were content to play on. Had we come off, there would have been little chance of resuming. The weather was not going to improve.
James Marsh took over from Hamish and took a wicket in his second over, that of Martin Breddy, a former Buccaneer. Angus Berry then replaced Steve and bowled extremely well, taking four wickets, including a double wicket maiden. It was difficult to prise the ball away from him but after about 33 overs with around 150 on the board Frensham’s captain let us know that with the weather forecast so dire, he would bat for only another six overs. Angus gamely sacrificed the chance of taking 5 so as to let someone else have a go. Frensham then put on 40 odd runs, Archie Marsh taking a wicket in the two overs he was given before a very sporting declaration at 192 for 8 with theoretically buckets of time left but probably buckets of rain to come.
Since there was to be no official tea break (it was bring your own), the Buccaneers opened their innings immediately with the canny choice of Angus Berry and James Marsh as openers. The rain got heavier and no doubt did the hearts of the fielders as Angus and James started to turn on their own tap. But still Frensham showed willing and very generously stayed out on the field, getting wetter and wetter, while being punished for their endurance. To add to their suffering, they gave the Buccaneers a third player, a man called “Extras”, who managed to put on 45 in total (note that our Tom Fletcher had not conceded a single bye.) With Angus scoring 73 and James 75, the Buccs paddled home without loss in only 18.2 overs. A magnificent achievement. When was the last time we had an opening partnership of more than 190 (Hurlingham 2011? see this link)
An extraordinary game of cricket, probably the only game in Surrey that finished that day. Many thanks to Frensham for their fortitude and willingness to give us a match, come what may. Buccs won by 10 wickets.
Innings of Frensham
Breddy b. J. Marsh 26 Bixby b. Moules 5 Champneys lbw Moules 6 McCabe c. Berry 36 Jones b. Berry 29 White not out 59 Smith O. c. Fletcher b. Berry 0 Smith M. b. Berry 4 Smith D. b. A. Marsh 8
Extras 12 Total 192 for 8 declared
H. Robertson 7-2-0-27 S. Moules 8-2-2-43 J. March 6-2-1-33 A. Berry 9-3-4-25 G. Stapleton 3-0-0-17 O. Robertson 3-0-0-26 A. Marsh 2-0-1-16
Innings of Buccaneers
Berry not out 73 J. Marsh not out 75
Extras 45 Total 193
C. Jones 4-0-0-31 M. Smith 3-0-0-15 P.McCabe 4-0-0-30 D. Bigsby 3-0-0-28 C. Doian 2.2-0-0-28 E. White 2-0-0-29
Following a year’s hiatus, the Buccaneers once again descended on that oasis of tranquillity and indulgence in SW6, The Hurlingham Club. Players, officials and invited guests watched on under the 28-degree rays of sun while the Buccs were put in the grass following the skipper losing the toss.
Once the typical moaning about starting in the field on the hottest day of the year thus far was out the way, the Buccs opened up the attack with the new ball (well supplied by Will Metcalfe) with Stephen E Moules from the top end and Ludo Milne from the other. Stephen bowled nice back of a length fizzers with no luck, especially in the second spell with a shocking drop at mid on by the tiring skipper. Ludo, however had a good degree of luck, coupled with skill and pace, causing his first two balls of both the match and his 2021 cricket season trapping the number two LBW and castling the number three batsman in successive wickets of his opening double wicket maiden. This was quickly followed with two more wickets in his 3rd and 4th overs, leaving the Buccs in a nosebleed position in recent years of having Hurlingham at 20-4 after just 8 overs. Ludo was cruelly taken off whilst waiting on a five-fer as he was fatigued in the midday heat. For the first time in a long time we had four genuine seamers, so Metcalfe and debutant Krunic came on bowling cheaky swingers and metronomic on the spot balls respectively. Sadly no wickets were delivered in this spell and it took a turn of veteran spinner Simon Leefe to take the fifth wicket before lunch.
The BBQ queue and jugs of Pimms awaited us and gave the players much needed sustenance before taking to the field once again. This was where Hurlingham struck up a powerful sixth wicket partnership of 127 through some sublime hitting from their wicket keeper / captain Kidwell and Handy Bat (soon to discover handy bowler too) Hugo Peterson.
Leech & Leefe delivered a couple more before we bowled out Hurlingham for 246 from 54.2 overs. The final victim being Captain Kidwell agonisingly falling for 97 (I do think the number 11 was pleased it wasn’t him stopping the skipper from getting the ton!)
It was now time for the Buccaneers to dust off the cobwebs on the batting helmets and head out. Eswar & Chris Leech led the charge with the latter falling for a score below his best and trudging back to the pavilion. Eswar played a measured innings, partnered briefly with young Leefe and then a lovely partnership of 72 with our overseas James Crichton. James and Eswar played delightfully and excited the crowd with glorious shots to all corners of the croquet lawn outfield. Stephen Moules then came to the crease, and batted with equal style and substance, hitting a run a ball 43 before eventually falling as the last wicket. Running out of a few partners along the way. Leefe senior gave a short burst of hope but a few ducks in the bottom half of the batting order meant that we weren’t to reach the target, finally falling 45 runs short of the target. The aforementioned Hugo Peterson taking 5 of the last 6 wickets with a blistering pace attack for a man with such a kind face.
It was a game played in great spirits with most of the spectators imbibing great spirits and weather to match the occasion. As with tradition we retired to the bar to while away the rest of the evening under the setting sun.
Hurlingham Club v Buccaneers – Sunday 13 June 2021
An eagerly anticipated rematch following the rain affected draw in 2019, the Buccaneers arrived at the idyllic Ascott Park to play The Nomads in what would be the Buccs’ first outing of the year. Following some last minute recruitment by our bean counter Mr Marsh, the team on paper was a young and strong one, full of batting promise. To that end, a negotiated toss led the skipper to elect to bat and send out openers Marsh and Kalidasan. It wasn’t long before Kalidasan was soon heading back after some sharp and accurate bowling saw him caught off the bowling of Hamilton, the young quick. Hamilton accounted for the next two wickets of Leech and Berry respectively. Milne and Machin fell to the ever dangerous Shawl, whilst Marsh dug in for a good knock of 29, eventually succumbing to the bowling of Y Malhotra. Fletcher showed good resistance in the middle order with a knock for 30 being C&B off Royals and the tail wagged with Hobbs getting a quick fire 25 before the Buccaneers were all out for 130 off 41.4 overs.
The Nomads started their innings needing 131 to win with plenty of overs on offer to get them. As usual, skipper Brockton opened the batting with C Malhotra joining him. Malhotra fell quickly to the slow seam up of The Buccs skipper, Metcalfe but Brockton looked in worryingly good form at the other end. Three more wickets fell in relatively quick succession, putting The Nomads at 68/4 which brought Y Malhotra to the crease. Some crisp hitting soon powered Malhotra onwards in the scorebook and Brockton reached his well-deserved half century. Malhotra fell to Hobbs C&B for 35 leaving Hamilton to join Brockton but the damage had been done. Hamilton and Brockton saw The Nomads home for five wickets down and only 34.1 overs needed to get them.
