Lives in Cricket No 7 - Richard Daft

and Sussex and a side labelled England, for the benefit of Tom Lockyer, who netted over £330. The England team was composed almost entirely of players from the South. At Trent Bridge, the two sides consisted of professionals, with one exception. The playing of these two matches on the same day exemplifies the continuing great rift between the North and the South, as represented by the authorities at The Oval. As far as Lord’s was concerned, no Yorkshire or Cambridgeshire players were available to participate in matches there, while the Cambridge men refused to turn out at Bramall Lane, Sheffield, because, they claimed, it was on that ground that the Yorkshire Committee had previously arranged a match with Surrey! We get hardly any idea of what this was all about, but this season MCC decided that they had had enough of these recalcitrant pros and passed a resolution to set up a trust to support professionals who conducted themselves to the entire satisfaction of the Committee. The match for the benefit of the Cricketers’ Fund was played, not at Lord’s, but at Old Trafford, and all the players came from the North. The season of 1868 was tremendously hot. It saw the visit to this country of the Australian Aboriginals – but Nottinghamshire did not play them, though the Nottingham Commercial Club did. The County Cricket 43 The diversely-clad Nottingham Commercial side, which played the Australian Aboriginal team at Trent Bridge in 1868, included Richard Daft’s older brother. Standing (l to r): A.Fewkes (wk), C.F.Daft, A.Poyser (umpire), T.Wright, G.M.Royle, G.Rossall, W.Clements, R.Tolley. On the ground: J.West, S.Brittle, W.T.Palmer, J.Billyeald.