Lives in Cricket No 7 - Richard Daft

By the end of 1853, he had made his first recorded appearance in local cricket. The Nottingham Review of 29 July, 1853 records Nottingham Britannia Club 20 and 76 (R.Daft 0 and 36): Ilkeston Britannia Club 28 and 71 for seven, to win by three wickets. This was a memorable start for the seventeen-year-old. Yet, after Richard’s single reported appearance in July 1853, which ought to have ensured a further trial for Nottingham Britannia, he does not appear again for nearly three years. This was almost certainly due to his absence in Hull. He was already a rich young man when, in 1856, the Nottingham Review gave him an honourable mention but the comment, ‘Mr. Daft, a very promising young cricketer, scored 30 . . .’ sounds more like the introduction of an unknown player than a reference to an already familiar personality. He turned out on 23 and 24 June for Notts Amateurs against Burton-on-Trent at Trent Bridge. A week later, on the same ground, he played for Nottingham Commercial versus Newark, and soon after he found himself playing amongst higher company in his first recorded three-day match, for the Nottingham Commercial Club, when 18 of them took on the All England Eleven at Trent Bridge on 4, 5 and 6 August. The match was for the benefit of the stylish old Nottinghamshire batsman, Joseph Guy: ‘fit, sir, to play before Her Majesty in a drawing room’, according to old Clarke, of whom more anon. Richard scored only six in the first innings and fared half as well in the second, but not one of the rest of the first twelve on his side did as well! Only five of the 18 reached double figures in their 36 innings. Butler Parr, Richard’s future father-in-law, contributed two and four not out. For the All England Eleven, only Julius Caesar of Surrey achieved more than twenty, and the Commercial actually emerged victorious by 90 runs. Included in the England Eleven were Arthur ‘Ducky’ Diver, H.H.Stephenson, Cris Tinley, Guy himself, and John ‘Foghorn’ Jackson, all top-notch players. He must have attracted attention at Trent Bridge: certainly, John Johnson, a solicitor in Nottingham, was an early and enthusiastic supporter. Richard wrote that as a boy he learned the greater part of the game from two professional bowlers engaged with Nottingham Commercial Club: George Butler and Henry Hall. The club, founded in 1845, speedily became a power in Nottingham, and many of the leading players in the county were associated with it. George Butler, born in 1810, was a Mansfield man, who made 17 appearances for the county, starting in 1841: he appeared twice for the Players in 1843 and 1846. Harry 14 Advancement in Life