Lives in Cricket No 13 - AP Lucas

In 1876, for Cambridge, Lucas began in good form and scored consistently throughout a season blessed with fine weather. Against an England XI that again included Grace, he made 105, his maiden first-class century in the first innings, and 53 in the second, but Grace’s cousin W.R.Gilbert scored 205 not out and the match was drawn. Unusually, Lucas made his 54 against MCC at more than a run a minute, but in the second innings of the match against Surrey ‘the most prominent feature of the play was the staying power evinced by Mr Lucas’: he made an unbeaten 43 out of 133, a performance whose value was emphasised when the county were all out for 40 and lost by 148 runs. It was Uppingham’s year in the Varsity match. After Oxford won the toss, W.S.Patterson and H.T.Luddington, with five wickets each, bowled them out for 112. Opening the Cambridge reply, Lucas made 67 and The Times commented: ‘A finer played innings than that of Mr Lucas is seldom witnessed.’ With the fourth Uppinghamman, D.Q.Steel, he added 67 for the fourth wicket. When they were out, Patterson scored his only first-class century, 105 not out in 158 minutes. Luddington and Patterson reduced Oxford to 60 for five and only a captain’s innings from William Game enabled them to set Cambridge 73 to win. Lucas made 23 not out and drove the winning four in a nine-wicket victory. He headed the university batting averages with 507 runs at 50.70. Lucas’s reward was election as a member of MCC. He was selected for the full Gentlemen’s teams in the matches at The Oval and Prince’s, although he did not play in the Lord’s game, which was the biggest of the season. His best innings was 35 at Prince’s, in a low-scoring match that the Gentlemen won by five wickets. For Surrey, he made just three appearances and his 64 against MCC was his only innings of substance. The annual elections for officers of the Cambridge University Cricket Club took place each November. 39 Lucas had been voted on to the committee in 1875 and a year later was elected assistant treasurer in succession to Patterson, who became captain. The president and treasurer had for many years been Rev Arthur Ward, who was the driving force behind the club, but the post of assistant was far from a sinecure. The club had major outgoings such as rates levied by public bodies, tradesmen’s bills and wages for groundsmen and professionals. The main sources of income were subscriptions (one guinea) and gate money, which was charged even in the pre-season trial matches. The assistant treasurer, along with the president, secretary and captain, also arranged the matches and selected the teams. In 1877 Lucas was therefore one of the senior players. The Freshmen’s match was between Mr Lucas’s side and Mr Patterson’s side, the two captains batting at eleven; Lucas was not out for two and 38, and his team won by 176 runs. After starting the Cambridge season with one run in three innings, Lucas came into his own with 90 against the Gentlemen, 76 against Surrey and 95 against MCC. A month before the Varsity match, MCC had Surrey and Cambridge University, 1874-1878 40 39 Committee details from C.U.Library: ‘President’s Book’, CUCC II/9.