Lives in Cricket No 7 - Richard Daft

day. Of the England team, eight members were northern professionals and some of them were deeply suspicious of The Oval authorities, believing that John Lillywhite had been put up to no-ball Willsher in the hope of saving Surrey from a humiliating defeat. The next day, the Surrey Committee directed John Lillywhite to stand down so that the match could continue without further interruption. Willsher, in turn, apologised for his hasty manner in leaving the ground. Richard’s contribution to this drawn match was a duck. Richard himself, ever discreet and tactful, wrote of this match: ‘It cannot be denied that to the spectators who did not watch him most closely, he appeared to deliver above the shoulder. As a matter of fact, I believe that when the ball left his hand, it was exactly on a level with his shoulder. He came up to the wicket with a quick march kind of step, raised his hand high above his head, bringing it down, however, with a very quick jerky movement just as he delivered. That last movement of his seemed to put a spin and impetus on the ball that caused it to rise like lightning from the pitch. It seemed to reach one almost before it left his hand sometimes.’ Richard accorded him the tribute of saying that he was the type of bowler a batsman, even one who was well set, was always glad to see taken out of the attack. Willsher had an equally high opinion of Richard’s batting, and in connection with his back play to a good length ball, told Caffyn: ‘When Richard plays that ball, I always feel as if he said, “If that’s all you can do, Ned, you’d better put somebody else on at once!”’ The following year, MCC legalised over-arm bowling. Richard was newly married and employed under the kindly but concerned eye of his father-in-law; but was marriage the only reason for his playing such a greatly reduced amount of cricket in 1863 and the following seasons? He was closely associated with George Parr, but in the years following 1859, their relationship was not necessarily beneficial for Richard. Parr was often at odds with his opponents from the South of England and Surrey, in particular. A catalyst was the match between the North and Surrey at the end of August, 1859. Parr took umbrage when the Surrey captain, F.P.Miller, refused to let him take on a substitute batsman in place of his injured wicket-keeper. Parr did not forgive or forget. In a year or two, he was declining to take part in any fixture played at The Oval. In 1863, Cambridgeshire withdrew from participation in matches with Surrey at The Oval because their three great More at Home 33