Verner Luckin

{{short description|English cricketer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2016}}

{{Use British English|date=February 2016}}

{{Infobox cricketer

| name = Verner Luckin

| image =

| country = England

| fullname = Verner Valentine Luckin

| nickname =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1892|2|14|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Woking, Surrey, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1931|11|28|1892|2|14|df=yes}}

| death_place = High Cross, Hampshire, England

| heightft =

| heightinch =

| batting = Left-handed

| bowling = Leg break googly

| family =

| club1 = Hampshire

| year1 = 1910–1912

| club2 = Warwickshire

| year2 = 1919

| columns = 1

| column1 = First-class

| matches1 = 19

| runs1 = 212

| bat avg1 = 15.14

| 100s/50s1 = –/1

| top score1 = 59*

| deliveries1 = 1,475

| wickets1 = 24

| bowl avg1 = 35.20

| fivefor1 = –

| tenfor1 = –

| best bowling1 = 3/19

| catches/stumpings1 = 9/–

| date = 29 January

| year = 2010

| source = http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/16372.html Cricinfo

}}

Verner Valentine Luckin (14 February 1892 — 28 November 1931) was an English first-class cricketer.

Luckin was born at Woking in February 1892. Luckin was selected to trial for Hampshire in 1909, alongside Jack Moore.{{cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001746/19090430/133/0007|title=Hants C.C. nursery trials|work=Aldershot News|page=7|date=30 April 1909|access-date=23 March 2024|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}} The following season, he made his debut in first-class cricket for Hampshire against Somerset at Aldershot in the County Championship,{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6737/First-Class_Matches.html|title=First-Class Matches played by Verner Luckin|publisher=CricketArchive|url-access=subscription}} with the Hampshire Observer and Basingstoke News remarking that he "showed promising form" on debut.{{cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003439/19100615/053/0003|title=Cricket|work=Hampshire Observer and Basingstoke News|date=15 June 1910|page=3|access-date=23 March 2024|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}} Luckin played three further first-class matches in 1910, before making five appearances in the 1911 County Championship. He made a final appearance for Hampshire in the 1912 County Championship against Middlesex. He had limited success with Hampshire, taking 13 wickets with his leg break googly bowling at an average of 39.46, with best figures of 3 for 39.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6737/f_Bowling_by_Team.html|title=First-Class Bowling For Each Team by Verner Luckin|publisher=CricketArchive|url-access=subscription}} As a lower order batsman, he scored 17 runs at an average of 2.42.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6737/f_Batting_by_Team.html|title=First-Class Batting and Fielding For Each Team by Verner Luckin|publisher=CricketArchive|url-access=subscription}}

Luckin joined Moseley, of the Birmingham and District Cricket League, as their professional for the 1913 season, after they had lost the services of Percy Jeeves.{{cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000290/19130419/119/0006|title=General|work=Portsmouth Evening News|page=6|date=19 April 1913|access-date=23 March 2024|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}} He additionally joined the staff at Warwickshire.{{cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000644/19130404/074/0003|title=Warwickshire County Cricket Club|work=Birmingham Mail|page=3|date=4 April 1913|access-date=23 March 2024|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}} During the First World War, Luckin volunteered with a pals battalion in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xATMDwAAQBAJ|title=Birmingham Pals|first=Terry|last=Carter|publisher=Pen and Sword Books|location=Barnsley|year=2012|page=127|isbn=9781783461004|language=en}} Following the end of the war, Luckin debuted for Warwickshire in the 1919 County Championship, making nine first-class appearances in what was his only full season with the county. In this season, he took 11 wickets at an average of 30.18, with best figures of 3 for 19, while his batting saw a marked improvement with him scoring 195 runs at a batting average of 27.85, recording one half century.

After departing Warwickshire, he played for Ormskirk in the Liverpool and District Cricket Competition,{{cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000669/19191115/129/0006|title=Luckin leaving|work=Birmingham Daily Gazette|page=6|date=15 November 1919|access-date=23 March 2024|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}} playing for the club between 1920 and 1927. In August 1927, he signed to play for Eagley in the Bolton Cricket League.{{cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000271/19270809/256/0010|title=Bee's notes on sports|work=Liverpool Echo|page=10|date=9 August 1927|access-date=23 March 2024|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}} From there, he was appointed coach and groundsman at Huntly Cricket Club in Aberdeenshire for the 1931 season.{{cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000577/19310428/032/0004|title=Huntly's coach|work=Aberdeen Press and Journal|page=4|date=18 April 1931|access-date=23 March 2024|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}} After coaching Huntly for the season, Luckin returned home to Hampshire. There he became worried with not being able to find employment as either a groundskeeper or coach, taking his own life by hanging himself from a tree in the garden of his High Cross residence on 28 November 1931; his body was discovered by his wife.{{cite news|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000649/19311202/012/0012|title=Inquest at Froxfield|work=Liverpool Daily Post|page=12|date=2 December 1931|access-date=23 March 2024|url-access=subscription|via=British Newspaper Archive}}