Lives in Cricket No 7 - Richard Daft

last out for 114, making his runs out of 305. In more distinguished company, Richard scored 65 at Lord’s for Eleven Players of England against 16 Undergraduates of Oxford and Cambridge, and did it again there for the Players against the Gentlemen a week later. Only once that season did he play in a county match at Trent Bridge. It was against Surrey, beginning on 25 July, when his scores of 22 and six added little to his season’s large aggregate. Richard fared better in his next match, for England also against Surrey, which immediately followed at The Oval. His totals of 22 and 33 did not stop Surrey winning by 56 what was known as the ‘Cripples’ Match’: seven of the Surrey side were playing in spite of injuries. At Canterbury a fortnight later, in mid-August, for England against Fourteen of Kent, he accumulated 22 and 55, his second innings total being the only one over 40 in the match in which Kent were successful by 54 runs. Richard returned with Notts to Trent Bridge, where the opposition were Twenty-two of the County. The opposition included Thomas Daft and Charles Daft, who easily top-scored in the second innings with 24 before Richard caught him. Thomas was nearly 18 years older than Richard and a master joiner by occupation. He was never a major force in cricket, although he was at club level a useful bat and a good field at long-stop, who played for both Nottingham Commercial and Mapperley Park. Charles Daft was a good and steady batsman. His career for Nottinghamshire in first-class matches was short, extending only from 1862 to 1864. Probably his best innings was his 46 against Kent at Trent Bridge in 1864. He was better known as a hurdler who won many prizes. It was not a very long journey from Trent Bridge to Gainsborough, also on the Trent, where the All England Eleven contested affairs with another twenty-two on 29, 30 and 31 August. After the disposal of the locals for 57, Daft opened the batting. Only Thomas Hayward gave him much support, yet some of the others must have stuck around as Richard batted on and on until the last wicket fell at 178, leaving him on 65 not out after six-and-a-half hours at the wicket! A collection realised around £175 in modern currency. Richard finished the season with another long score, 58 against Twenty-two of Middlesbrough. This summer, he played 24 Professional 29