Lives in Cricket No 13 - AP Lucas

class counties competition and it was not officially recognised by MCC. The results nevertheless contributed to the entry of Somerset to the first-class County Championship in 1891, and Derbyshire, Essex, Hampshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire in 1895, when the first-class Championship grew from nine to 14 teams. Until 1889 there was a rule that players could not appear for their old county while qualifying for the new, but apparently it was not enforced very consistently: in the seasons 1887 and 1888 Lucas played five games for Middlesex while qualifying for Essex, although his not appearing for Middlesex after May 1888 may have been due to a belated application of this rule. Whether he would otherwise have had to wait another year or two is unclear. Such rules were sometimes a means whereby county committees exercised indirect social control over their professionals, who could rarely afford such a long break in their earning capacity. Perhaps the rule was changed when the authorities realised that amateurs like Lucas might also wish to switch counties. After stricter rules for qualification were introduced in 1873, he was the fifth cricketer to appear for three counties, and the first prominent amateur. Although there is no specific mention of him in the Essex minute book, the secretary did cut out and paste in a copy of the relevant paragraph. In 1901 The Times commented: ‘It is some 20 years since Mr Lucas made his mark as a great batsman, and he was never so keen on county cricket as some of his colleagues in that ever famous Cambridge eleven. He has hovered about various counties – Surrey, Middlesex and Essex.’ It is undoubtedly true that Lucas played relatively little for his first two counties: for Surrey he appeared 41 times in nine years, and for Middlesex 11 in five. He was often called on for representative cricket, and in August he apparently preferred the companionship of his old school chums in the Uppingham Rovers. With his Essex career, however, it was different. In general, the greater formalisation of county cricket meant that many people took it rather more seriously. In particular, Lucas played very little representative cricket and, perhaps more significantly, made only three appearances for the Rovers after 1890. He clearly enjoyed the social side of cricket, and apparently found it with Essex in a way he didn’t with Surrey or Middlesex. Doubtless the influence of Green was a significant factor. 1889 Green told the Essex Annual General Meeting on 3 May 1889 that ‘The cricket prospects, under the able captaincy of Mr A.P.Lucas, who would play as often as possible …were certainly better than they had been.’ Green was in his 43rd year and doubtless ready to stand down as captain, so his old friend was the ideal successor. Lucas’s arrival marked an important step in the serious business of attaining first-class status: his class as a Essex captain, 1889-1894 89