Buckley making a mark

Buckley has recently made the move from England to play for the Dubbo club and last weekend inspired his side to a commanding nine-wicket victory over CYMS. Batting at three, he scored 59 not out and finished with 1-13 off eight overs with his off-spin.

He has also been a key player for Macqaurie Valley in the Western Zones series and top scored for Macquarie with 52 from 61 balls in their loss to Lachlan.

The Englisman said he couldn't be happier with his current form and is humbled by his reception in Dubbo so far. He explained that when he was playing for the Kirkburton Cricket Club in England, he got a visit from long-time Colts cricketer Tim Cox, who was impressed by his talent.

"When Tim came to see me, I was in the best frame of mind I could possibly be in. I had suffered an injury a year before, and had finished recovering from it when he told me I could move to Australia for six months," he said.

It was timely for Buckley, as he was planning on getting away from it all when the Dubbo offer came up.

He said it was one of those “once in a lifetime opportunities” that he just had to take.

“I’m absolutely loving Dubbo. I love the weather, I think the grounds we play on are really nice... I love it all. I love Australia,” he said.

The rest of the Colts team have made him feel welcome and everyone has been getting along “like a house on fire”. 

His form so far has been nothing short of excellent and his captain Chris Morton has had nothing but praise for his new recruit from England and reckons his move can only be good for the game.

Buckley said Colts’ game against CYMS last weekend was a “funny game” for a number of reasons.

“We had a bit of rain on the wicket and were chasing a low total of 117 that day. Jason (Ryan) smashed a quick 26 and put us in a good position for us to finish with ease,” he said.

With Green’s departure, and the score at 1-30, he was faced with CYMS’ bowling attack for the first time. 

“CYMS captain Ben Strachan is a hard cricketer. I guess I haven’t really played with every first-grade cricketer in Dubbo, but he did make the game hard for me... he’s a very talented player,” he said.

In this weekend’s game against Macquarie Buckley believes his team will go well but won’t be taking anything for granted.

“Macquarie have a good batting side and, like a lot of the other teams, have a good mixture of experienced and new players, with strengths in both batting and bowling,” he said.

Buckley will back up Saturday’s game against the Blues with another match for Macquarie Valley, this time against Mitchell in Orange on Sunday.

He said the standard of representative cricket is high, and he will be out to prove himself again with the bat.

“I need to show I’m capable of making the final side [Western Zone] in rep cricket. I’ve found the standard of club cricket isn’t as high as rep cricket, which is more my style. “I guess it all depends on what you come up against, but on the whole I think my game will improve playing both.”