Lives in Cricket No 7 - Richard Daft

One of the worst injuries was the one which Richard himself suffered at Salisbury: the batsman skied the ball straight up in the air and, as several fielders rushed in for the catch, Parr growled, ‘Let Dicky have it.’ Richard had it alright, but it struck the nail of his middle finger, tearing the greater part of it away from the flesh. More enjoyable, and perhaps safer venues were Grantham and Sleaford in Lincolnshire. The grounds would be crowded with the carriages of neighbouring landowners and farmers, ‘for’, Richard noted, ‘farming in the country was then at its best.’ Richard included scores of some of the most significant (to him) games in Kings of Cricket . These included a match in June, 1861 against Twenty-two of Walsall, in which he scored 114 out of 305 – the Twenty-two mustered only 50 and 78. In 1868, he hit up 88 against Twenty-two of Bestwood at Bestwood Park in Nottinghamshire, in a match which the Eleven won easily by an innings. He bettered this performance against the same opposition a year later, achieving an undefeated 115 against an attack which included his old mentor, George Butler, who captured five wickets. One of the liveliest members of the team was Julius Caesar from Godalming – the name continues down to this day in that part of Surrey. He was one of the smartest men Daft ever came across: his hitting, too, was clean and smart. He always travelled with a huge portmanteau, which he assured his colleagues was solid leather. Daft adds: ‘It was a great deal too large for his needs, evidently, for whenever any amount of baggage was put on the top of it, it used to go down as flat as a pancake . . .’ George Anderson was a terrific hitter, a fine looking man, six feet in height. He and Richard were both ‘wretched sailors and used to suffer agonies whenever crossing the Irish Channel.’ Cris Tinley was unsurpassed at point; as an underarm bowler he was the best in England and also a very dangerous bat. George Tarrant was a grand fast bowler whose pace was tremendous and seemed even faster than it was on account of the long run he took. Daft had no doubt that the great amount of hard work Tarrant did in the cricket field shortened his life. Known as ‘Tear ‘em’, he was five feet seven inches tall and weighed only a little over nine stone. Daft wrote that John Wisden was ‘for years one of the best all-round men in England, being a splendid fast bowler with a beautiful length, a grand little batsman and an excellent fellow withal.’ The All England Eleven 21