Lives in Cricket No 13 - AP Lucas

Middlesex’s next game, against Kent, so showed what Middlesex had been missing. With his old ally, W.G., he had an unbroken partnership of 101 to give MCC a ten-wicket win in a twelve-a-side match against Cambridge University, but he failed twice against Surrey at the end of June and played only one more first-class game in the season. His average of 25.33 left him fourth in the Middlesex batting averages. In 1888 Lucas played only three first-class games. On 17 and 18 May for the Gentlemen of England against Cambridge University, usually a game where he did well, he ‘batted with all his old style’ but made only four and 20. On 24 and 25 May he made six and 14 against Yorkshire for Middlesex, who nevertheless won by nine wickets. The Times report of Middlesex’s next game, against Kent, said Middlesex ‘did not play Mr A.P.Lucas’, which is slightly ambiguous, and of the following game, against Gloucestershire, The Times quite clearly stated that he was ‘unable to play’. The Yorkshire game was to be his last for the county of his birth, and Wisden commented that he appeared only once for Middlesex ‘in a season when his steadiness on bad wickets would have been invaluable’. It gave no reason and even now possible explanations can only be speculation. Work commitments probably increased, and his health may still have been slightly delicate. He had succeeded C.E.Green as secretary and captain of the Uppingham Rovers, which would have taken up more time than just their short touring season. His joining Middlesex was perhaps rather a matter of convenience on both sides: he played only six games for them before his illness and five after, so may not have felt any great commitment to them. If so, it could have contributed to his decision to qualify by residence for Essex which, under the rules applying at the time, meant that he could not play for Middlesex. Lucas’s only other match in 1888 was on 23-25 July for Cambridge University Past and Present against the Australians at Leyton, a fixture first played there in 1886. On a difficult wicket, Cambridge batted first and Lucas’s performance belied the fact that he had not played for two months. Opening the innings, he made exactly 50 out of 137. On the second day the wicket eased out and the Cambridge fielding was below standard so the Australians posted 319 in which Lucas, the eighth bowler tried by C.I.Thornton, took two for seven in five overs. Although Cambridge closed 160 behind, ‘there was every prospect of an interesting day’s play’ but the weather was so bad that the game was abandoned. None of Lucas’s four Uppingham and Cambridge team-mates played first-class cricket after 1887, and it would have been no surprise if he too had given up the game. Instead, his cricket career was about to take a new direction that was indicated by the match at Leyton, and this is a good place to take stock of his life outside cricket. Middlesex and a serious illness, 1883-1888 68