Lorcan Tucker interview: 'Sometimes if I go up the gears, I can struggle to come back down'
Ireland's wicketkeeper on being named vice-captain of his country, recent franchise gigs and the quest to recapture his T20 World Cup form
You’d hope Lorcan Tucker is a member of a frequent flyers club.
Having spent a month jetting around South Africa with the Paarl Royals, Ireland’s wicketkeeper recently found himself with the Lahore Qalandars for a three-game stint. Before travelling to the Pakistan Super League, Tucker squeezed in a few days at home in Dublin. His next stop is Abu Dhabi where he trades in his coloured clothing for whites as Ireland return to the Test arena against Afghanistan.
It’s a lot of moving parts for just one game of cricket since December. With Paarl, Tucker found his path to the XI blocked by one Jos Buttler. In Lahore, Tucker kept for their first outing before dropping out of the side for the next two games, Carlos Brathwaite taking his overseas slot in the starting line-up.
All told, Tucker has played just one of 14 franchise games for which he was available since the turn of the year. Sacrificing time at home for not a lot of games could easily frustrate a young cricketer. Tucker instead opts to look at the positives. After all, consistent access to grass nets in the South African summer beats wearing a beanie in North County all winter.
“It is hard,” says Tucker of the regular travel. “You have to rock up, switch on and then move on in a way. It’s a great experience, I wouldn’t turn it down for the world. It’s good to be in a new team, see these places in a new competition.
“I found myself on the fringes of teams in the last six weeks but I’m hoping to get out there, make an impression and take my chance when it comes. It might not be this tournament but hopefully the next. There’s a lot of relationships across franchises so you see the same people cropping up again and again. It’s getting to know people and them getting to know you as a person and a cricketer.”
Tucker’s previous franchise stint, in the Caribbean Premier League, was more successful from a playing point of view. Last September, he was a regular part of the Trinbago Knight Riders XI coached by former Ireland boss Phil Simmons.
All told, Tucker has quietly been building his franchise network off the back of his impressive T20 World Cup in 2022. The main reason for his increased workload is his innings of 71* off 48 balls in a losing effort in Australia, a knock that went a long way to turning franchise heads. Tucker also has good people on his side, sharing an agency with the likes of Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Reece Topley, Liam Livingstone and Ben Stokes.
Tucker’s handlers have plenty of franchise general managers on speed dial; it quite literally pays to be well connected when teams come looking for a gloveman who is also capable of launching Josh Hazelwood into the second tier.
When Tucker was first promoted to number three in Ireland’s T20 line-up at the end of 2021, he embarked on a career-best run. Between that series in the USA and the World Cup the following year, he averaged just under 30 at a strike-rate of 128. Of his six T20I scores above 50, five came in that period. He solidified his hold on the number three spot, filling a hole Ireland had long sought to plug in the process.
After that dream year, Tucker’s form dipped. In his last six T20I innings, he has been dismissed for nought three times - including twice against India - and has passed double figures on just two occasions.
Push that back to the 13 T20I innings since the World Cup, Tucker has passed 20 on just two occasions. His average of 18 in that span is heavily inflated by three unbeaten scores of 12, 14 and an impressive 94 against Austria - the undoubted highlight of this tricky patch.
Regression from such a high was in many ways inevitable - Tucker’s form was unsustainably good. But the question is how low can the fall go before people start to worry? Tucker himself insists he is comfortable with where his game is at.
“I’ve spoken to the coaches before, it’s trying to figure out what works best for me and where the most success I can have and then within the team, how has that been created,” he says.
“There are different ways of skinning a cat. I’ve gone out and been uber aggressive and had success with that and then at other times been less aggressive and had less success. There’s a balance and I’m trying to find that. But I’m lucky in that we have plenty of T20 cricket coming up. It’ll be trying to find what style works for us with the focus on T20 cricket again [ahead of the World Cup in June].”
With memories of that 2022 run still fresh in the memory, few question that Tucker can get close to that form once more. His place in the Ireland XI is secure in any case, Paul Stirling naming the wicketkeeper his vice-captain when he took over the side on a permanent basis.
“[That was] pretty special,” says Tucker of the recognition. “It’s one step closer to captaining Ireland. It wasn’t something I thought about at the start of my career but Heinrich [Malan, Ireland head coach] and his team were on that wavelength. I was delighted to be even considered for it, let alone get it.
“I always felt like I knew the guys well and I had a good relationship with everyone, but it’s nice to formalise those things. Just to be Stirlo’s second hand man, to try offer him as much support as I can, because captaining any nation is difficult. It’s given me more responsibility and more time to focus less on myself and more on others and the team.”
The puzzle of Irish international cricket ensures that, despite his recent T20 excursions and the significant focus on the shortest format ahead of World Cup games in the USA, Tucker’s next outing will be a Test match. Even with the format changing, the conversations around his game feature a familiar theme.
During his tricky T20I run, Tucker has at times been criticised for over-aggression leading to poor shot selection. During last year’s Test at Lord’s, Ireland’s batting coach Gary Wilson suggested he would like to see the man who replaced him as Ireland’s gloveman bat with more control after being dismissed trying to sweep Jack Leach.
“I would always imagine it as a bit of a gear box and going up and down the gears,” explains Tucker. “Sometimes if I go up I can struggle to come back down. That’s one of the biggest things I try to work on in my batting, is that balance and recognising when it’s ok to shut down a little bit.
“Generally, when you’ve got the edge on someone and you’re getting up those gears you want to stay there. But what I’ve learned, even in the last few months from franchise cricket, the most intimidating thing is when a batter or team looks like they’re taking control. As a fielding side, you want them to keep going then you get wickets, but if you step down a gear, show control and you’re aware of the situation, that’s the most positive route you can take.”
For all the talk of form, Tucker’s run in Test cricket last year saw him named to the Guardian and Wisden red ball teams of the year, respectively. In his young Test career, he averages 44 and has one century and a half-century to his name.
The sub-continent can be a difficult place for foreign wicketkeepers not used to wearing a helmet all day when standing up to the stumps to spinners. During last year’s tour to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Tucker overcame that challenge and excelled with the bat.
“A lot of it was mindset-focused,” he says. “Just the time element of the sport at that level, in that format, is what intimidates you.
“We did some days where we did two days in the field and then having to go out and bat the next day, it can be exhausting. We learned how to execute your skills even when you’re under the pump like that.
“We’re very lucky to play Test cricket. I know we don’t play it consistently and the Tests seem to pop up.
“One of the main goals this year, along with the T20 World Cup, would be to win a first Test match. We play Afghanistan now and then Zimbabwe towards the back end of the year.
“That would be a big goal, both for Cricket Ireland and for us. We got some experience last year of the format, how difficult it can be, so we’re trying to get win number one on the board. That would be special as a cricketing country, from 2007 to a team with a Test win on the board.”