The final day at Chesham didn’t pan out as Cumbria wanted in the NCCA Championship game.
They took longer to remove the last four Buckinghamshire wickets than they would have hoped for.
Consequently they were set a higher target for victory than it had seemed would be required on Monday.
They were asked to score 281 and after losing half the side for 74, with first innings hero Sam Dutton gone for 19, it was looking an uphill fight.
It got worse when Matthew Sempill, who scored a brilliant century in the last match, was dismissed for 97 and Cumbria were teetering at 95-6.
Skipper Michael Slack (51) and Finlay Richardson (40) partially righted the ship with a stand of 81 for the seventh wicket.
It left just over a hundred to make but when both batsmen went within the space of adding 18 runs, victory chance had slipped away.
The injured Nico Watt and bowling hero Matthew Siddall tried to support Brodie Glendinning but when he was bowled for 17 by Connor Haddow is was all over and the hosts had won by 74 runs.
Bucks had resumed in the morning on 223-6, a lead of 152 but Cumbria couldn’t see off the tail as they would have wanted.
They were able to add 128 with the overnight batsman Ross Richardson making 62 and Haddow proving impossible to shift on 55 not out.
Siddall bowled another marathon shift of 48 overs and finished with 6-120, leaving him with match figures of 14-208.
It earned him a place in the county record books. His first innings haul of 8-88 is the best bowling figures in an innings for Cumbria/Cumberland.
His 14/208 is also the new record for best bowling figures in a match.
Result: Bucks 257 and 351 beat Cumbria 308 and 206 by 74 runs.
