Lives in Cricket No 7 - Richard Daft

period 1883 to 1886. In 1885, Richard stood down by rotation in accordance with club rules, but he returned the following year and stayed on the committee until 1889. Harry Daft first appeared in the Notts team in 1885. He was a wonderfully promising young player who had played his first match in the Eleven at Trent College at the age of only 12 and kept his place for four years. He was just 17 when he hit his first century in club cricket in 1883, hit over 1,200 runs the following summer, and just a year later enjoyed his first trial for Notts when he played for the county against MCC at Lord’s. With totals of 23 and 10 not out, he was the most successful of the county’s batsmen. Scores of 52 for Notts against England and 40 against Gloucestershire followed, and with one break he remained a regular in the county side until 1898. Yet his batting at that level never progressed beyond determined defence, and he certainly never rivalled his father. In club cricket, he was a prolific scorer and he, Richard and Richard junior hit up 47 centuries between them over the period 1885 to 1897. Harry earned greater fame in the world of Association Football, as a member of Notts County A.F.C. From 1888, he captained the team, for which he made 137 League appearances and was capped five times for England. 2 His brother, Richard Parr Daft, played only once in first-class cricket, in 1886 – he scored 5 against Surrey at Trent Bridge – and ten years later made three appearances for Berkshire in the Minor Counties championship. His abilities lay in a different direction as he helped Richard put together his reminiscences Kings of Cricket and later performed the same task Many Preoccupations 109 Richard’s son Harry played 190 first-class matches for Notts from 1885 to 1899 and umpired 42 Oxford University matches from 1900 to 1914. 2 He captained the England side against Ireland in Belfast in March, 1892, scoring both his side’s goals.