Lives in Cricket No 7 - Richard Daft

opinion must have been favourable: Richard contributed 44 to his team’s total of 103. The lodestone by which a cricketer’s reputation at the highest level was measured in the late 1850s and 1860s was performance in the matches between the All England Eleven and their rivals, the United England Eleven, which had been formed by John Wisden and some colleagues in 1852 when they broke away from William Clarke. Not surprisingly, these games had a real edge of competitiveness which made them more attractive. Richard’s entry into the arena at Lord’s in 1859 could not have been less successful, as we have seen, and he fared little better a year later when Caffyn again had him twice for nought and ten. The first time Richard made any impact in the series was at Lord’s in 1861 when his 48 in the second innings – the highest individual score in the match – contributed to an exciting finish. He did still better at Old Trafford in July, hitting up 66 before he was caught behind the wicket. In a third match between the two elevens at The Oval in August, he was twice dismissed by Griffith for nought and 25. However, after the season of 1862, Richard’s appearances for the All England Eleven became fewer and fewer: indeed, his matches against odds reduced to one in 1863. In 1864, he played in only eleven matches of note, six at Lord’s or The Oval, three at Trent Bridge, one at Bradford, and the other at the Crystal Palace. In the first match of the season at Lord’s, beginning on 16 May, which raised £102 5s 3d for the Cricketers’ Fund, of which more later, his scores were 44 and 21, and in 1865, 25 and nought, when the Fund benefited to the extent of £268 9s 6d. Altogether that season, he played only three matches for the All England Eleven. His finest achievement in the series of matches came at Old Trafford in May, 1867. After J.C. Shaw had played the major part in dismissing the United for 208, Richard joined John Smith of Cambridge with the score at 31 for one. His partner reached 34 before being bowled, but only Richard displayed any fluency against an attack which included George Freeman, George Atkinson, George Howitt and Jemmy Grundy. The All England Eleven totalled 232 and he was left undefeated on 111, compiled without a chance. The authorities at Old Trafford, aware of the custom at The Oval where a successful batsman would be met on the pavilion steps by the Surrey Secretary and presented with a new bat, summoned, in the words of the reporter, ‘the gentlemanly Daft to the pavilion for such a ceremony as a memento of his Professional 27