Lives in Cricket No 13 - AP Lucas

Two episodes from that period suggest that he had the gentlemanly approach to captaincy we might expect. At Lord’s in 1901 Middlesex suffered injuries to Albert Trott and George Beldam, so ‘by the courtesy of Mr Lucas, the Essex captain, Mr Cobb was allowed to come in’ as a full member of the side. At Canterbury in 1902, Charles Kortright created a rough patch on to which Charlie McGahey bowled his leg-breaks with deadly effect. ‘A.P.Lucas, who was captain on that particular occasion, as soon as he noticed it, thorough sportsman as he is, refrained from bowling Kortright in the second innings.’ 82 McGahey took six wickets in the first innings but only one in the second and, although Kortright did in fact bowl again, it could have been from the opposite end. An unfulfilled talent? From 1877 to 1884 Lucas was, when available, an automatic choice for England and for the Gentlemen in the matches at Lord’s and The Oval. After that, he played only once for the Gentlemen and not at all for England: his cricket career at the highest level was virtually ended at the age of 27. Gerald Howat suggested that ‘In a spasmodic career that covered 33 years, mostly with Essex, work commitments never allowed him to fulfil the early expectations.’ 83 His work on the Stock Exchange undoubtedly took up more of his time and, with a young wife to support, he could not get away as often as before, but there was more to it than that. The break caused by his ill-health allowed new men to come through, and he may not have done quite enough to displace them. The aftermath of the illness may have caused a slight waning of his powers, and then his decision to join Essex meant that he played very little first-class cricket until they attained that status in 1894. But for Lucas there was more to life than cricket, and he is unlikely to have seen himself as a failure. The man and the cricketer 87 82 Kortright’s distant cousin Digby Jephson, quoted by Meredith, op cit. , p 157. 83 Gerald Howat in his introduction to Royle, op cit ., p 4.