Lives in Cricket No 13 - AP Lucas

case Bill Reeves, who made a then career-best 56 in a partnership of 100. Against Leicestershire he was ‘seen to great advantage’ with 54 and against Lancashire he ‘played fine cricket’ for 61 in 135 minutes. Owen missed the next three matches and Lucas took over as captain. In a remarkable game against Yorkshire, Essex conceded a lead of 20 and collapsed to 43 for eight. Mead hit out ‘recklessly but successfully’ for 46 and Lucas kept up an end for 30 not out in a partnership of 77, but after a shaky start Yorkshire won by six wickets. Lucas then put Sussex in on a difficult wicket and they were bowled out for 108 but Essex did not find things much easier and Lucas’s 44 was the highest score of the match. At that point in the season he had scored 422 runs in seven completed innings. His declaration on 160 for seven was bold and Mead reduced Sussex to 14 for five, but they managed eventually to set a target of 69 in 55 minutes. Essex themselves collapsed to 31 for five and Lucas’s dismissal for two brought his golden run to an end. Loss of form, rain and flat Leyton wickets meant that Essex won no game after early June. It was their worst run since entering the Championship, and the resulting position of tenth was their lowest. Lucas scored only one fifty in the last six matches but still finished fourth in the Essex averages with 531 runs at 27.94. 1901 The season began with a win over Sussex which featured a partnership of 163 between McGahey (125) and Lucas (83). The Times was effusive: In his great days at Cambridge and Uppingham, Mr A.P.Lucas never played more brilliant cricket than he did at the Lyttelton Ground, Leyton, yesterday, when with Mr McGahey he turned a losing game into one that now spells success. … Yesterday his method of dealing with a short ball was perfect; and in dealing with the good-length bowling on the hard wicket his straight bat and his power of striking were inimitable. He was handicapped through a strain in his knee, which made it necessary to have a man to run for him; but his innings of two hours was perfection itself. … Mr McGahey played brilliant cricket, although in point of style his batting did not compare with that of Mr Lucas. In June Owen aggravated his leg injury so Lucas took over the captaincy when he was absent. Against Lancashire at Leyton the feature of the first day was 75 from Lucas, ‘whose off driving and cutting were worthy of his best days.’ Lancashire’s John Broughton, in his first-class debut at the relatively advanced age of 28, batted well but became nervous when approaching his hundred, and it was probably with some reluctance that Lucas caught him at point when he was on 99. Carpenter, in his benefit match, made 119 but disappointing gates meant that he received only £180, and it was no coincidence that the following year this cricketer ‘of irreproachable conduct’ became embroiled in a bruising dispute over Essex cricketer, 1895-1907 106