Lives in Cricket No 7 - Richard Daft

Throughout the 1880s, he kept up his form. He did not reach three figures in 1881, that year of adjustment, but in 1882, in addition to his century for the Daft XI at Skegness, he hit up 105 for Nottingham Commercial versus Newark: 1883 brought two large innings, 154 not out for Nottingham Commercial against the Leicester Town Club in mid-June, and 178 for his own Eleven versus Trent College – which both his sons attended. That season, Richard also made a brief return to first-class company when he played in two matches in the Scarborough festival, including one for MCC. It was very unusual for a former professional cricketer to turn out for MCC as an amateur in a first-class match: he scored two and 23. 1884 was the first year in which Richard and both his sons, R.P., aged 20, and Harry, aged 18, all reached three figures. In 1886, when he was 50, in addition to his 222 at Scarborough, he hit 138 for Skegness versus Alvaston, whose attack included a name from long before – John Platts. In 1887 came his 115 at Middlesborough against the North Riding of Yorkshire: the following year his fine batting in the same fixture produced an innings of 89. In 1889, he had an average of 41 for 25 innings. He exceeded even this form in 1891, hitting a century early on and following this with two more hundreds before reaching three figures again in the last week of July at Trent Bridge against opposition of real quality, including the Hon Alfred Lyttleton, the Test player. That summer, Richard hit four other scores of 50 or more, and a further five which exceeded 40. Many Preoccupations 111