Lyttelton played a match for the "Gentlemen of Worcestershire" in 1866, when he was 14, playing alongside two of his older brothers,
Charles and
George. The
Lyttelton family was closely associated with cricket in Worcestershire, and most of the family appeared for the county at some time. He played for Eton in his final year at the school, and appeared in the
annual fixture against Harrow that year, his performance being of little note. Eton won the match by 21 runs, in which Lyttelton scored two runs in the first innings and remained
not out with five runs in the second. He batted at
number ten in both innings, and did not bowl. He suffered a
pair during a match between Worcestershire and Herefordshire in 1871. During his time at Cambridge University, Lyttelton frequently appeared for the
Quidnuncs Cricket Club, a cricket club generally populated by former university cricketers who had earned a
blue. He never played
first-class cricket for the university, but did appear against them in one match in 1872; his only first-class appearance. Lyttelton was part of the
Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) team which played the university at
Lord's Cricket Ground in June that year. He batted at number seven, and after scoring a
duck in the first innings, he scored four runs in the second of a low-scoring match in which only
W. G. Grace passed 50 runs in an innings. He made a second appearance for the MCC that summer, as part of a side which beat a Worcestershire team containing two of his brothers by three wickets. He played little more notable cricket, turning out for the Quidnuncs and the
Free Foresters infrequently. He was described in
Scores and Biographies as being "Like the rest of the family he is a fine free hitter, and an excellent field at long-leg, or middle-wicket-off." ==After graduation==