Lives in Cricket No 7 - Richard Daft

The season’s averages for county matches, given below, show the strengths of the Notts side, and the extent of Richard’s decline, in spite of a few innings in time of need. Batting and Fielding: M I NO R HS Ave 100 50 Ct/St W.Barnes 10 15 2 430 143 33.07 1 1 7 W.H.Scotton 10 15 1 252 63 18.00 - 2 5 A.Shrewsbury 10 17 3 206 33 14.71 - - 11 J.Selby 8 12 0 172 32 14.33 - - 8 W.Flowers 10 15 2 180 42 13.84 - - 7 R.Daft 10 15 2 167 47 12.84 - - 3 A.Shaw 10 12 5 86 30* 12.28 - - 7 W.Gunn 10 17 4 141 29* 10.84 - - 6 W.Oscroft 10 17 1 162 33 10.12 - - 9 M.Sherwin 6 7 1 25 7* 5.00 - - 7/3 F.Morley 10 11 1 42 19 4.20 - - 10 F.Wyld 3 4 0 7 4 1.75 - - 3/2 Played in one match : H.A.Cursham 4 (1 ct); W.Marriott 0; W.Wright 3. Bowling: O M R W BB Ave 5i 10m A.Shaw 764.3 497 523 63 6-18 8.30 4 1 F.Morley 756.2 380 896 85 8-36 10.54 9 5 W.Flowers 192.1 92 223 20 4-17 11.15 - - W.Barnes 184.3 94 237 10 2-10 23.70 - - At the county’s Annual General Meeting at the end of January 1881, the committee, with regret, announced his retirement. In his letter of resignation – he was now 46 – Richard wrote that he would be willing and anxious to assist the committee at any time. The committee’s reaction was equally warm: ‘The cordial thanks of all who are interested in county cricket are due to Richard Daft for the straightforward and honourable way in which he has at all times acted as captain of the county eleven, thereby setting an example worthy to be followed by all cricketers.’ There was a tendency amongst Richard’s contemporaries to rank him among the good captains, rather than the great ones like V.E.Walker, A.N.Hornby or Lord Harris, and it is true that he was not often greatly tested as he always had at his command a very powerful professional combination. Because of his strong belief in his own capabilities and his high renown among cricketers, he seems, with rare exceptions, to have kept the Nottinghamshire team well in hand. His leading players all had long careers (except poor Summers), which suggests that they kept reasonably fit, and there were few indications, in public anyway, of disagreement in Triumph and Tribulation 100