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

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er and an England

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 le ...

, being one of an elite group to have represented their country in both sports. He died while batting at

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

Early life

Ducat was born in

Brixton Brixton is a district in 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 ce ...

, London, but grew up in Southend. The cricket writer

David Foot David K. Foot is a Canadian economist and demographer. Foot did his undergraduate work at the University of Western Australia and his graduate work in economics at Harvard University, where he was supervised by Martin Feldstein. Following his ...

said his surname was "pronounced 'Dewkitt' by the family, 'Duckett' on the football terraces". In the First World War, he served in the Royal Garrison Artillery, 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 who is in charge of supplies. The CQMS also serves as the deputy ...

in 1916 until being discharged due to 'disability' in 1919.
Player Profile, England Football Online, retrieved 25 March 2022.

Cricket career

Ducat joined the ground staff at The Oval 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 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. He played in only one Test, the 3rd Test against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

at 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 Tasmania, Victoria, Lancashire and Australia, as well as being an Australian rules footballer who played with Launceston Football Club, Essendon Footb ...

, 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, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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 Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

. After losing his place in

1906–07 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

, he was later switched to

right half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and became a regular in 1907–08 and 1908–09. During his time at Arsenal, he won three caps for England, with his debut coming against Ireland in Belfast on 12 February 1910; England won 6–1. On his second appearance for England, against Wales 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

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

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 win in 1919–20, beating Huddersfield Town. 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

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

in 1921, and upon his retirement from playing in 1924, he succeeded

Phil Kelso Phil Wade Kelso (26 May 1871 – 13 February 1935), born in Largs on the Firth of Clyde, Scotland, was a Scotland, Scottish football manager. Career Kelso was manager of Hibernian F.C., Hibernian for one season,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, 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 until his death. He was also a sports reporter for the ''

Daily Sketch The ''Daily Sketch'' was a British national tabloid newspaper, founded in Manchester in 1909 by Sir Edward Hulton. It was bought in 1920 by Lord Rothermere's Daily Mirror Newspapers, but in 1925 Rothermere sold it to William and Gomer Berry ...

''. 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 venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

of an apparent heart attack after lunch whilst playing in a wartime cricket match between teams from his unit of the Home Guard 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.

References

External links

*
Not out ... dead

Cricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

, 4 December 2004
Fulham FC article on Andy Ducat

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