Andrew Ducat (15 February 1886 – 23 July 1942) was an English

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er and

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. He played internationally for both the

England cricket team The England men's cricket team represents cricket in England, England and cricket in Wales, Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Maryleb ...

and England football team, one of a small group of players to have represented their country in both sports. Domestically he played for

Surrey County Cricket Club Surrey County Cricket Club (Surrey CCC) is a first-class club in county cricket, one of eighteen in the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Surrey, including areas that now form South Londo ...

and for Woolwich Arsenal,

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

, and

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

football clubs. He died while batting at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

Early life

Ducat was born in

Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...

, at that point still part of

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, but grew up in

Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. The cricket writer David Foot said his surname was "pronounced 'Dewkitt' by the family, 'Duckett' on the football terraces". In the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he served in the

Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Artillery, Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse ...

, from 1915, and was promoted to

Company Quartermaster Sergeant : Company quartermaster sergeant is a military rank or appointment. Canada A company quartermaster sergeant (CQMS) in the Canadian Forces is the non-commissioned officer in a Company (military unit), company who is in charge of supplies. The CQM ...

in 1916 until being discharged due to 'disability' in 1919.

Cricket career

Ducat joined the ground staff at

The Oval The Oval, currently named for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club sinc ...

in 1906, and soon became a regular member of the Surrey county team, playing alongside Tom Hayward, Jack Hobbs and Ernest Hayes. Standing 5'10" high, he was a powerful, forcing batsman, and made 52 centuries for Surrey, including 306 not out in 280 minutes against the

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

in 1919. He was also one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1920. He missed many matches due to injury: a broken leg in 1912 almost ended his career, and he missed the 1924 season after breaking his arm in the nets. In 1928, he made 994 runs in less than six weeks, including centuries in four successive matches. In 1921 it was said that he was one of the most dangerous batsmen in England that is not quite first class, but his defence was not sound enough to bring him consistent success against the best bowlers. He played in only one

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

, the 3rd Test against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

in 1921 when he was unlucky to only make 3 and 2. He was "doubly" out in the first innings: his bat disintegrated when he played a ball bowled by

Ted McDonald Edgar Arthur "Ted" McDonald (6 January 1891 – 22 July 1937) was a cricketer who played for Tasmanian Tigers, Tasmania, Victorian Bushrangers, Victoria, Lancashire County Cricket Club, Lancashire and Australia national cricket team, Australia ...

, the ball looping to slip where it was caught, and part of the bat dislodging a bail. He was given out caught rather than hit wicket.

Football career

Ducat also had a successful

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

career. He started out playing for non-league Southend Athletic before joining First Division Woolwich Arsenal in 1905. He made his Arsenal debut on 11 February 1905, in a 2–0 win against Blackburn Rovers, playing at

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

. After losing his place in 1906–07, he was later switched to right half and became a regular in 1907–08 and 1908–09. During his time at Arsenal, he won three caps for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, with his debut coming against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

on 12 February 1910; England won 6–1. On his second appearance for England, against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

on 14 March the same year, Ducat scored the only goal in a 1–0 win. Ducat's ability and success with England brought attention from bigger clubs than Arsenal, who were at the time going through a financial crisis. Eventually, he was sold for £1,000 to England's most successful club

in 1912, having played 188 matches and scored 21 goals for Arsenal. After suffering a broken leg in his first season at Villa, he recovered to become a stalwart in the side, captaining Villa to their sixth

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

win in 1919–20, beating

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

. He also regained his England place; having not played since 1910, he won three more caps during 1920, the last coming in a 2–0 win against Ireland at Roker Park on 23 October 1920, bringing his total number of England appearances to six. He moved to

in 1921, and upon his retirement from playing in 1924, he succeeded Phil Kelso (his former boss at Arsenal) as Fulham manager. However, the Cottagers struggled with Ducat in charge, finishing 12th and 19th in the Second Division during the two seasons he was at the helm. He was sacked in 1926. After his departure from Fulham, he was given permission by the FA to play football for the Casuals.

Personal life

Ducat married on 20 June 1914 at St Stephen's Church,

Hounslow Hounslow ( ) is a large suburban district of West London, England, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 14 metropolitan cen ...

, Vera Barbour, daughter of

footballer Horace Barbour. They had one daughter together.

Retirement and death

After retiring from cricket in 1931, Ducat became a cricket coach at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

until his death. He was also a sports reporter for the '' Daily Sketch''. He died suddenly in 1942 during a game at

Lord's Cricket Ground Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

of an apparent

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

after lunch whilst playing in a wartime cricket match between teams from his unit of the

Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting ...

from Surrey against another from Sussex. The match was immediately abandoned as a mark of respect for Ducat. He was aged 56, and he is the only person to have died while playing in a match at Lord's. He was cremated at

Golders Green Crematorium Golders Green Crematorium and Mausoleum was the first crematorium to be opened in London, and is one of the oldest crematoria in Britain. The land for the crematorium was purchased in 1900, costing £6,000 (the equivalent of £136,000 in 2021), ...

References

External links

*
Not out ... dead

Cricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a Sports journalism, sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including Liveblogging, liveblogs and sco ...

, 4 December 2004
Fulham FC article on Andy Ducat

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ducat, Andy 1886 births 1942 deaths Footballers from the London Borough of Lambeth People from Brixton British Home Guard soldiers Arsenal F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Casuals F.C. players England men's international footballers England Test cricketers English cricketers English football managers English men's footballers Fulham F.C. managers Fulham F.C. players Surrey cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year Players cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Cricket deaths Men's association football forwards English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 20th-century English sportsmen Players of the South cricketers P. F. Warner's XI cricketers Royal Garrison Artillery soldiers British Army personnel of World War I Military personnel from the London Borough of Lambeth