Percival's earliest recorded matches took place in June 1918, where he batted for Radley College.[4] He played twice for the college that month, scoring four in the first game against Westminster School but remaining unbeaten on 63 in the second against Bradfield College.[5][6] A year later, in May 1919, he was playing for Westminster School against various other schools in England. He scored 62 against the Household Brigade that month,[7] and over the next year played against various schools across England.[4] In June 1919 he scored 78 against Tonbridge School,[8] and in July 1920 he hit 56 while opening the batting against Charterhouse School.[9]
On 2 August 1920, he represented 'The Rest' at a match at Lord's against a Lord's School XI. The game, which lasted over two days, saw Percival score 23 and 32 opening the batting. The match was a rain-affected draw, with Lord's School being largely dismantled by a nine-wicket haul for Edward Hewetson.[10] Percival played a combined British Army XI at Lord's the next day, but only scored zero and seven.[11]
The following summer Percival began in May with 86 against Sherborne School,[12] followed by 58 against Charterhouse on 9 July.[13] On 1 August he again revisited Lord's to face Lord's Schools but could only score three and seven.[14]
In 1922 Percival left Westminster School and entered The Queen's College, Oxford. His first match for the university was his first-class debut, and came on 10 May at the university's cricket ground, where he opened the batting against Hampshire. He scored one and 17 – the latter his career best – as Oxford were defeated by 139 runs.[15] Ten days later on 20 May he played against the Free Foresters Cricket Club at Oxford, scoring ten and zero.[16] He played one more first-class match on 23 May 1923, this time representing Gloucestershire against Oxford. He scored zero in the first innings, and made ten in the second.[17] He scored only 38 runs from his three first-class matches in total, at a batting average of only 6.33.[2]
Percival settled in Kenya in the later half of the 1920s. In October 1928 he played a 'Officials v Settlers' match in Nairobi, where he represented the Settlers, scoring nine and 21.[18] The sides played again eleven months later, with Percival making four and 33.[19] He then returned to England and was invited to play for the Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord's against 'Indian Gymkhana' on 25 July 1930. However, he was not required to bat.[20] Due to his time in Kenya, he opened the batting for the Kenya Kongonis Cricket Club – a Nairobi cricket club – during their tour of England in 1931, playing in three matches.[4] On the outbreak of the Second World War he represented the Royal Army Service Corps against a team from Aldershot barracks, and he ended his playing days after the war with matches played for 'The Forty Club' at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst through the 1950s.[4]