Lives in Cricket No 13 - AP Lucas

justified in playing for whom he pleases. So much the better for Surrey when they get him!! But it seems that Surrey Veteran’s tactless letter had an effect opposite to that intended, for Lucas played in only one of Surrey’s fourteen remaining games. At the AGM on 20 May 1882 he had been re-elected to the committee, but only five weeks later the Surrey minutes recorded that he had resigned and the secretary had written to express the committee’s regret. There is no direct evidence that the letter brought about his resignation, but it seems likely that the two events were related. Lucas would probably have missed some of those games anyway, because he played against the Australians for the Gentlemen of England and for MCC. Though 45 for MCC was his only significant contribution with the bat, in the game for the Gentlemen he held a memorable running catch from a ‘tremendously hard and low’ hit by George Bonnor, which Grace considered ‘as fine as anything I have ever seen.’ Lucas played for the Gentlemen against the Players in both games. At The Oval at the start of the second day he went 64 minutes before he made his first run, the earliest known instance of a player batting for an hour without scoring, and yet another example of his unwearying defence. 56 By contrast, his 107 in a comfortable win at Lord’s was a sparkling innings in which he added 204 at a run a minute with C.T.Studd. ‘Pavilion Gossip’ in Cricket commented: It was a very great performance of Messrs A.P.Lucas and C.T.Studd to put on as they did 204 runs for the Gentlemen against the Players at Lord’s on Monday on the fall of the second wicket. This is one run more than Messrs W.G.Grace and A.J.Webbe secured for the first wicket of the Gentlemen in the same match at Lord’s in 1875. It is, I believe, only twice on record that two amateurs have each made a hundred in one innings of this particular match. … Messrs Lucas and C.Studd both played brilliant cricket. In August Lucas toured as usual with Uppingham Rovers, but broke off to play the Australians again, this time for Cambridge University Past and Present. When The Oval Test started on 28 August he was among the leading batsmen in the country and an automatic choice. Against the 1880 Australians Lucas had been a hero but two years later, some perceived him as the villain of the piece. He started well enough, sharing with Ulyett in England’s highest partnership of the match, 39, although he scored only nine off 64 balls in 65 minutes. But then, in Australia’s second innings, he uncharacteristically dropped H.H.Massie at long on, to a groan from the huge crowd, and the big-hitting Australian added a further 17 priceless runs before being dismissed. When Lucas came to the crease in the second innings, England needed only 33 runs with seven wickets in hand, but the pitch was getting increasingly difficult. Surrey and England, 1879-1882 60 56 The Times , 1 Jul 1882.