CUMBERLAND'S season came to a frustrating, anti-climatic end as heavy overnight and early morning rain left the Sedbergh School outfit saturated and prevented any play on the third and final day of their Unicorns Championship game against Buckinghamshire.

Three outstanding individual performances had seemingly put the county in a strong position as they led Bucks by 199 runs with seven second innings wickets intact.

On the opening day Wigton professional Michael Slack and captain Gary Pratt engaged in a fourth-wicket stand of 174 that underpinned Cumberland's 319 for 6 in their 90 overs.

Slack batted patiently to compile a classy 96, his highest score for the county while Pratt stylishly went past his 12th hundred for the county and finished unbeaten on 143.

Pratt hit eight fours and two sixes in his classy 213-ball innings that saw him finish just 13 runs short of 4,000 Championship runs for the county, a feat achieved by only four players in Cumberland history.

Slack faced 214 balls and hit nine fours with many of the pair's shots failing to get full value on the sodden Sedbergh outfield.

On a second day shortened by rain and bad light Toby Bulcock produced another outstanding performance to claim the best bowling analysis in Cumberland history. The 26-year-old left arm spinner took eight for 39 off 30 overs in a masterly display that saw Bucks bowled out for 174.

Opener Pat Castleden hit 66 and was the only Bucks batsman to play him with any confidence, but when he was fifth out at 122 Bulcock quickly demolished the lower order, aided by some excellent close fielding.

Bulcock's superb effort saw him surpass Chris Williams' 8 for 47 achieved against Cambs at Saffron Walden two years ago as the best innings analysis since Cumberland entered the Minor Counties in 1955.

Earlier in the season he also recorded an analysis of six for 14 against Northumberland, a new County record for the one day Trophy.

Bulcock's eight wickets in this game took him to 45 in only six Championship games, just four short of the record-breaking 49 he took in Cumberland's Championship-winning season in 2015. He has now taken 228 wickets for the county since making his debut in 2011 and is fourth in the all-time county list.

Cumberland closed the second day on 56 for 3 when bad light brought play to a close 75 minutes early and hopes of pressing for victory on the final day of the season were ended by the weather, which prevented any play on three of their scheduled nine Championship home days this season.

Elsewhere Suffolk recorded a last day win to claim runners-up spot to leave Pratt's side in fourth place in an Eastern Division table won convincingly by Lincolnshire, who did not play Cumberland this year, with Staffordshire in third.

Cumberland defeated Northumberland and Norfolk and drew their remaining four games against Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Suffolk and Bucks, giving a good account in each game.

Mattie McKiernan topped the batting averages with 449 runs at an average of 64 with Pratt hitting 447 runs at 49 and Ross Zelem completing a fine debut season with 418 runs at 46.

Bulcock dominated the bowling with his 45 wickets achieved at an average of 13.35 including five five-wicket hauls; he also twice picked up ten match wickets.

Adam Syddall was the only other bowler to reach double figures of wickets, his haul of 12 taking him to the notable landmark of 300 in a distinguished Minor Counties career in Championship and Trophy games for Cambs, Cheshire and Cumberland.

Bulcock, Syddall and McKiernan also represented the Unicorns, the Minor Counties' representative side while last week Bulcock represented the Minor Counties at Torquay in their annual game against an MCC side captained by Syddall.

Barrow captain Toby Mowat became the latest player to come through the Development team, set up jointly with Cumbria Cricket Limited, hitting an unbeaten 19 on debut.

Mowat, whose father Ray, the Barrow chairman also represented the county was one of eight former Development team players to represent Cumberland during the season.

Bulcock finished as the second highest wicket-taker in the Championship and was beaten to the Frank Edwards Trophy by Dorset's Jigar Naik. The 33-year-old former Leicestershire off-spinner, a veteran of 77 first-class games took 47 wickets at an average of 10.19.

Unicorns Championship Eastern Division. Cumberland v Buckinghamshire at Sedbergh School, Aug 13-15, 2017. Cumberland 319-6 (GJ Pratt 143no, MP Slack 96) and 56-3; Bucks 176 (PJL Castleden 76, T Bulcock 8-39). Match drawn (no play on final day). Cumberland 11pts, Bucks 6pts.