Bertie Buse

Herbert Francis Thomas "Bertie" Buse (1910–1992) was a cricketer who played 304 first-class matches for Somerset before and after the Second World War.

born at Ashley Down, Bristol, on 5 August 1910, Buse was an all-rounder: a dogged right-handed batsman who, in the mobile Somerset batting line-up of the mid 20th century, batted anywhere from No 3 to No 8, and a medium-paced swing bowler who often opened the bowling for the county side. He first played for Somerset in 1929, and then played occasional matches as a professional almost every season through to 1937. In 1938, he went on to the county's staff as a full professional contracted for all matches, and from then until he retired at the end of the 1953 season he was a regular in the county team.

Buse's first complete season was 1938 and, according to Wisden, he "seized his chance in great style". In his first season, he scored 1067 runs and took 61 wickets, and his 132 against Northamptonshire at Kettering was to remain his highest first-class score. Wisden noted that he often batted best when Somerset were in trouble.

That first full season set the pattern for the next nine: the 1939 season before the Second World War and the first eight seasons from 1946 after the war. Buse made 1,000 runs in five seasons in all, and more than 900 runs in three others; his batting average never exceeded 27 and never fell below 19; and he scored seven centuries in all. As a bowler, his best season was 1939, when he took 81 first-class wickets, including his career best eight for 41 in an innings against Derbyshire at Taunton. In eight seasons in all he took more than 50 wickets, and though his average was, for his time, rather high – usually around 30 runs per wicket – he again with his bowling seemed often to do well when others were struggling.

Buse was one of the distinctive characters in a Somerset side full of characters. In appearance and manner, he was bustling and rather prim, with a clipped moustache and always-neat hair. As a bowler, he went through a variety of fussy mannerisms before delivering the ball, all of which served only to endear him to Somerset cricket crowds. "There was his studious contemplation, his stuttering approach, the touch of acceleration and the undisguised smile when the batsman failed to counter the late swing," is one description.John Arlott said Buse's run-up was like a butler bringing in the tea. He could bowl both outswingers and inswingers. As a batsman, Buse also had a distinctive style that involved a strange dabbing stroke that steered the ball through the slips or gully towards third man. "There was rather too much posterior," says one book.