Lives in Cricket No 7 - Richard Daft

As for poor Summers, after a rest he insisted on returning home to Nottingham where, on 19 June, four days after the accident, he died two days short of his 26th birthday. The MCC Committee provided his tombstone. Some declared that the money would have been better spent on their pitch. The Notts innings went on and Richard, in spite of the awful incident, continued his good batting before his dismissal, fifth out at 103. Biddulph, at last, made the winning hit, leaving Notts winners by a notional two wickets. Even then controversy was not at an end when it was discovered that, because of a mistake by the scorers, the total had already reached 158 at the fall of the eighth wicket and the victory was already Nottinghamshire’s! Another match with Yorkshire, at Trent Bridge, brought frustration to the home side. Notts were set 175 for victory: seven were needed as the last man, Jemmy Shaw, joined Howitt. The great Yorkshire fast bowler, George Freeman, remembered: ‘I couldn’t bowl at the finish as I’d hurt my arm. When things were getting desperate, Richard Daft protested against Emmett changing ends a third time (which the law did not then permit) and his appeal was upheld by the umpires. I beckoned to Rowbotham, Yorkshire captain, to put Lockwood on; he did so and Ephraim got the last two wickets for five runs and we won . . . ’ In the return at Sheffield, Richard scored 45 not out and 46, the highest scores in the match: Yorkshire were left 142 to win, but were 35 short, with four wickets to fall, at the close of play. More satisfactory to Notts was the match against Kent at Trent Bridge at the end of July, 1870. Richard easily top-scored with 49 in the county’s innings of 201; he had outrun Kent who mustered only 41 and 73. The return with Kent at the Crystal Palace was described by Wisden as ‘a brief and one-sided affair.’ It was briefer still for Richard: he shared a stand of 88 with Robert Butler, George Parr’s nephew, was well set and playing easily when, at 41 as he started for a run, one of the tendons of his left leg gave way. ‘I heard it snap like a pistol shot,’ said Richard, who hopped to the other end to make the run. He was then carried to the tent, given temporary repairs, and went home the following day to play no more that summer. As far as the match was concerned, Notts’ score of 167 sufficed for an innings victory as Kent again crumbled. Richard went to recuperate at Mablethorpe. He hobbled into the sea on crutches every morning so that he should not miss the pleasure and benefit to be derived from sea bathing. 50 Nottinghamshire Captain