Lives in Cricket No 13 - AP Lucas

Gentlemen. Lucas came in after E.M.Grace was out before a run was scored, and batted throughout the innings for an unbeaten 87 out of 275. Cricket commented: Some good cricket was shown by the amateurs already mentioned, but the Club would have fared badly had it not been for the brilliant display of A.P.Lucas. His unwearying defence at the outset helped mainly to break the Australian bowling, and his innings of 87 not out, following as it has so closely on his first score of 145 for Mr Thornton’s eleven against Cambridge, must be accounted an extraordinary performance; barring a difficult chance to McDonnell at short slip soon after his arrival, there was nothing like a flaw in his batting. For nearly four hours and a half he was combating all the best of the Colonial bowling, and his masterly style was never seen to greater advantage. The Australians were bowled out for 75 and were on the verge of defeat at 240 for nine when the scheduled third day was cancelled because of the Derby, which says something about the priorities of the Victorian élite and leads one to wonder why nobody had noticed the clash of dates earlier. A few weeks later, in a remarkable game at Rickling Green, near Saffron Walden in Essex, an attractive ground where cricket is still played, G.F.Vernon and A.H.Trevor added 605 for the second wicket and the Orleans Club were eventually all out for 920, both records that stood for many years. After the club was dissolved in 1883, the house and grounds passed into private hands. The Australians then went to The Oval and once again Lucas was a relative failure for his county, with only 12 and nought. Surrey next had their traditional, high-profile Whitsun Bank Holiday game against Nottingham- shire at Trent Bridge, in which they had to field an inexperienced team with two debutants, while Lucas preferred to appear for Gentlemen of England against Oxford University. He was bowled by the left-arm fast bowler George Robinson for seven and two, but had match figures of six for 56. He played in Surrey’s next three games, making fifties against Middlesex and Gloucestershire and 27 not out in a successful run chase against Cambridge University, as well as taking twelve wickets. But then a letter from ‘A Surrey Veteran’ appeared in Cricket magazine: I think also it would greatly add to the strength of the county if Mr A.P.Lucas (to my mind the best all-round cricketer in the world) could be persuaded to devote a little more of his time to his county’s interests. Why he should prefer to play v Oxford University, when Surrey and Nottingham are opposed to each other, I fail to see. But doubtless he has some good reason for so unpatriotic a performance. The following week ‘A Frequenter of The Oval’ replied: As regards Mr A.P.Lucas, the ‘Surrey Veteran’ had better have left him out of his complaints. He is a right-down good fellow, and is perfectly Surrey and England, 1879-1882 58