BUCKS CCC’s wretched summer continued this week as they were beaten by six wickets in their Unicorns Easter Division match with Staffordshire.

Having lost all their four knock out matches, they have now been beaten in three of their four Championship matches so far this summer.

Their loss to Staffordshire was on the cards by the end of the first morning of the match as they crashed to 33-4.

New captain Michael Payne tried to lead a recovery with 56, sharing a sixth-wicket stand of 72 with George Russell (35), but there was little come after that and their score of 162 was inadequate for a side choosing to bat first on a dry pitch.

Seamer Sam Helm brought Bucks briefly back into the match with three quick wickets as Staffordshire slipped to 25-3 in their reply, but Alex Thomson’s 120 in 235 put Staffs in control with a score of 319-8.

That gave them a first innings lead of 157, but Bucks made a good fist of wiping that out as they moved to 178-2 in their second innings.

But that degenerated to 251 all out as England spinner Moeen Ali’s brother Kadeer returned figures of 5-43 in 20.1 overs.

That left Staffordshire just 95 to win and Ali’s unbeaten 59 saw them home for the loss of four wickets.

The next Bucks game will be against Lincolnshire at Grantham from August 3-5.