Tall and gangling, and with a distinctive 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.[5] He is one of only four male Test cricketers to compete at the Olympic Games.[6]
Buckenham retired from first-class cricket in 1914 to become professional at the Scottish club Forfarshire. After serving with the Royal Garrison Artillery in the First World War he became cricket coach at Repton School.[2]
