| Verner Luckin | |
| Country: | England |
| Fullname: | Verner Valentine Luckin |
| Birth Date: | 14 February 1892 |
| Birth Place: | Woking, Surrey, England |
| Death Place: | High Cross, Hampshire, England |
| Batting: | Left-handed |
| Bowling: | Leg break googly |
| 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.[1] The following season, he made his debut in first-class cricket for Hampshire against Somerset at Aldershot in the County Championship,[2] with the Hampshire Observer and Basingstoke News remarking that he "showed promising form" on debut.[3] 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.[2] 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.[4] As a lower order batsman, he scored 17 runs at an average of 2.42.[5]
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.[6] He additionally joined the staff at Warwickshire.[7] During the First World War, Luckin volunteered with a pals battalion in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment.[8] 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.[2] In this season, he took 11 wickets at an average of 30.18, with best figures of 3 for 19,[4] while his batting saw a marked improvement with him scoring 195 runs at a batting average of 27.85, recording one half century.[5]
After departing Warwickshire, he played for Ormskirk in the Liverpool and District Cricket Competition,[9] playing for the club between 1920 and 1927. In August 1927, he signed to play for Eagley in the Bolton Cricket League.[10] From there, he was appointed coach and groundsman at Huntly Cricket Club in Aberdeenshire for the 1931 season.[11] 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.[12]