Cecil Buttle

Cecil Frederick Douglas Buttle, known as "Cec", born at Norton Fitzwarren, Taunton, Somerset on 11 January 1906 and died at Taunton on 15 December 1988, was associated with Somerset County Cricket Club for more than 50 years as a player, a net bowler, a substitute fielder, a reserve umpire and, for about 30 years after the Second World War, the groundsman at the County Ground, Taunton.

Cec Buttle

Personal information
Full name	Cecil Frederick Douglas Buttle
Born	11 January 1906 Norton Fitzwarren, Taunton, Somerset, England
Died	15 December 1988 (aged 82) Taunton, Somerset, England
Batting	Right-handed batsman
Bowling	Right-arm fast-medium
Role	Bowler
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1926–28	Somerset
First-class debut	22 May 1926 Somerset v Gloucestershire
Last First-class	20 June 1928 Somerset v Nottinghamshire
Career statistics
Competition First-class Matches 2 Runs scored 8 Batting average 2.66 100s/50s –/– Top score 4* Balls bowled 72 Wickets – Bowling average – 5 wickets in innings – 10 wickets in match – Best bowling 0/7 Catches/stumpings –/–
Source: CricketArchive, 1 January 2010

Cricket player

As a player, Buttle was a right-arm fast-medium bowler, but though he was on Somerset's ground staff for many years, he played only two first-class matches, one each in the 1926 and 1928 seasons, and failed to take a wicket in either of them.

Buttle was interviewed by writer David Foot for his 1980s history of Somerset cricket. Foot writes that Buttle was "a very good club bowler, fast by those standards and able to move the ball away."[1] Buttle himself is quoted as saying: "Harry (Harry Fernie, the groundsman) was always short staffed and but for that I think I'd have got a few games on some of the northern tours. I was frequently fielding for one side or the other at Taunton, but it wasn't the same."[1]

Groundsman and umpire

As head groundsman at Taunton from 1946, Buttle was also called on when there were problems with other cricket pitches in Somerset: in 1953, he was forced into emergency action after the newly-relaid pitch at the Recreation Ground, Bath produced a farcical one-day result on the first day of what was meant to be a three-match festival of three-day games – the match, against Lancashire, was Bertie Buse's benefit match and was finished before six o'clock on the opening day.[2] Buttle told Foot: "I had to take drastic action, and I decided on plenty of liquid marl and cow manure. We used a watering can to spread it across the wicket. The problem was knowing how to camouflage what we'd done. Then I hit on the use of cut grass. I sprinkled it all over the top and gave it a good roll."[3] The other matches in the Bath cricket festival were saved.

In addition to his groundsmanship duties, Buttle was also called on to umpire in less important first-class matches in Somerset, such as those against university sides or early-season friendly matches.[4] He also stood as umpire in several second eleven matches.

References

1. David Foot. Sunshine, Sixes and Cider: a History of Somerset Cricket (1986 ed.). David and Charles. pp. 119–120. ISBN 0-7153-8890-8.
2. "Scorecard: Somerset v Lancashire". www.cricketarchive.com. 6 June 1953. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
3. David Foot. Sunshine, Sixes and Cider: a History of Somerset Cricket (1986 ed.). David and Charles. p. 162. ISBN 0-7153-8890-8.
4. "Cecil Buttle as Umpire in First-class Matches". www.cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 1 January 2010.