1928 began with a shock for Buckie at the Association AGM when Seaforths brought forward a proposal that Buckie should be kept out of the League. The reason given was that Buckie was too far away and meant a great deal of expense for Clubs to travel. However, the proposal received no seconder and Buckie remained in the competition.
Buckie did not fare as well as in their first season winning only 3 games to finish in 7th spot. Batting was a major problem and so too was the fielding and catching which was criticised in almost every match report. Below is a copy of a letter in the Banffshire Advertiser which sums up one spectator's opinion in which he also is critical of the bowling. The letter was written at the beginning of the season and had it been at the end, the bowling would certainly have been omitted.
Coutts and Stuart were a fine pair of bowlers and on many occasions claimed all 10 wickets between them. Coutts twice took 9 wickets in an innings and also had Buckie's first league hat trick when he took 7 for 24 against Auldearn. He finished with 88 league wickets, a record which stood until 1972 when Nairn's Paddy Allan broke it with 91 wickets. Coutts was also chosen to represent the North Select against Lancashire at Forres.
Frank A Bowden who won both the league batting and bowling average cup three times while with Northern Counties turned out for Buckie against Forres and scored 34 out of a total of 61.
The best batting performance of the season was an 80 by R Gordon-Duff, an Eton schoolboy, in one of the games that Coutts took his 9 wickets but Buckie still lost 112-116 to Seaforth Highlanders.
29th May 1928 BLACK WATCH AT BUCKIE Sir, - I visited the Public Park on Saturday expecting to get a treat. I did not. Black Watch certainly put up a good score, but who couldn't. Buckie bowling was all a batsman could wish for. Over after over was sent down off the wickets, and when a batsman sees this he hits with confidence. Knowing this, I can't understand why the Buckie captain didn't try a change of bowlers. If they haven't a change they may as well retire from the league. And as to Buckie's fielding, a team of farm servants could have done better. They didn't seem to have the idea of the game. They stood like gluepots in one place - no anticipation whatsoever was shown. A change will have to be made in this direction with a few at least. And when it came to batting, we got the giddy limit. It was a perfect wicket. (I must congratulate Buckie on that and also on great improvement on the outfield.) Only a few showed they knew how to hold a bat. I was taught when I played cricket to play with a straight bat and never to "poke" or try heroics with wide balls. Buckie's first man went out with a ball he should have left severely alone. You can never get a rising off ball away unless you have a lot of experience and a quick eye - caught out in the slips is nearly always the result. I am not writing in vindictive spirit, but with the hope that the Buckie committee will go "all out" to improve their team, and with the infusion of better fielders and a bowling "change" I think they will hold their own in the league, seeing they have now got a first class wicket to practice on.. - Yours etc LEG BEFORE, Cullen |
In the final game of the season, Buckie fielded six schoolboys at Auldearn and won 42-28. R T Johnston, C J G Milton and A Smith were three of these schoolboys and went on to serve the Club well for a number of years.
1929 began with a 20 run win over Cameron Highlanders but victories were to be few during the remainder of the season. Defeats at the hands of the Black Watch, Auldearn, Nairn County and the Seaforths followed, but their performance against Nairn was encouraging, losing by a mere 4 runs to the eventual league champions. Sandwiched between two defeats from Northern Counties was a good 5 wicket win over Stenhousemuir in a friendly at Cluny Park.
Bowlers G R Coutts and J F Stuart were again Buckie's major threats to the opposition being regularly among the wickets and they were now receiving on several occasions back up from A W Thomson who took a hat-trick in his 4 for 42 against the Cameron Highlanders.
Buckie won by 3 wickets at Auldearn in a low scoring game the scores of which were 34 runs against 37 for 7. The low scoring could have been partly due to the length of the grass in the outfield. During the Auldearn innings a Buckie fielder disturbed a previously unseen rabbit which was then captured by some of the young home spectators.
Buckie suffered heavy defeats at Forres, Nairn and twice from Elgin with Elgin batsman F A Anderson scoring 104no, the first century to be scored at the Cluny Park. Buckie gained revenge over Forres with a fine home win 153 to 61 with T R Gordon-Duff scoring 58 on a wicket now considered to be the best in the league. Although Buckie lost 44-37 to the Black Watch in the final game of the season, Coutts ended his season on a high note taking 8 wickets for 9 runs.
Buckie started 1930 quite well. A draw - their first ever league draw - with Elgin at home was followed by a first league win at Forres, Buckie winning 100-78. A severe beating from champions Nairn took Buckie back down to earth and despite losing to Northern Counties they gave an improved batting performance scoring 149.
Buckie lost by 2 runs, 68 to 66, at home to Auldearn before being again soundly thrashed by Nairn County. Week in week out the Buckie fielding was being criticised in the match report and against Nairn the standard had reached an all time low.
Buckie lost at Elgin with ex-Elgin player W J Shearer bowling well for Buckie taking 7 wickets for 46 runs.
In the North Select team to play Huntly, Buckie had two representatives namely, G R Coutts and wicket keeper G Milton. Buckie completed the season with two defeats against Auldearn and Forres. Several players were not pleased with decisions given against them in the 56-90 defect from Auldearn but dropped catches was the real reason for this defeat. In the 106-44 loss to Forres, they simply had no answer to the bowling of G Kemp who took 8 wickets for 3 runs.
As the season ended, the following lament could well have summed up how several of the Buckie team felt.
THE CRICKETER'S LAMENT Gone are the days Fate is unkind |
