Lives in Cricket No 13 - AP Lucas

went on to win the match. Although Lucas had bowled a lot in his youth, it was the only first-class wicket he took for Essex, yet it was a vital one and afterwards he often asked Owen: ‘If you don’t put your best bowlers on, how can you expect to get sides out?’ Lucas led Essex into the County Championship and Owen took them closer to winning it than any captain before Keith Fletcher in 1979. Such banter perhaps explains why Lucas enjoyed playing for Essex so much, and helped to bring that sense of fun which characterised the best of the county’s cricket in the twentieth century. Essex cricketer, 1895-1907 112