Lives in Cricket No 7 - Richard Daft

but by close of play, Notts were in much the better position, on 61 for four, with Selby and Wyld together. The second day, Tuesday, was miserable and wet, but 10,000 spectators were present. At 11.30 am the rain came down and it seemed unlikely that there would be any play, yet at 1.30 pm they played. After a late lunch, Notts were 95 and no further wickets had fallen. The Notts total eventually reached 153 – a lead of 90. By close of play, the Australians were 44 for four wickets. Next day, there were only 400 on the ground as Shaw and Morley, who bowled unchanged during the match, finished off the visitors, who went down by an innings and 14 runs. A single-wicket match was staged to fill the rest of the third day. The Australians’ reception at Nottingham was far beyond their expectations. They were entertained at banquets twice during the match. Then, after visiting Nottingham Castle, admiring the town’s parks and gardens, and observing the numbers of the rising generation practising cricket on the open space of the Forest, they were away in the train – Blackham, Midwinter, Murdoch, Spofforth and all – to London to their match with MCC and to immortality. A week after the Australian match, Notts beat Lancashire by eight wickets in a game of low scoring. Richard stayed at the wicket for an hour for his 11 in the first innings. Then Notts returned, after an absence of thirty-eight years, to Town Malling in Kent, where they overwhelmed their hosts by an innings and 48 runs. Richard’s 52 was the highest score in the match, and John Selby made 50. The home side could not match them, scraping 36 and 50, with Morley taking fifteen wickets. Notts then played Leicestershire at Trent Bridge – the sides had not met since 1829. Notts won by ten wickets, Richard scoring 18. Derbyshire came to Trent Bridge nine days later. After the visitors put Notts out for 94, Derbyshire, in turn, collapsed for 55. Then Notts lost early wickets: Richard had been bowled for a duck in the first innings. In the second, he went in at number six and batted in his most assured form for about two and a half hours, hitting three fours and nine threes in his 69 not out. Derbyshire, left 216 to win, were bundled out by Alfred Shaw, leaving Notts winners by 122 runs. Richard failed both times when Yorkshire demolished Notts at Bramall Lane, Sheffield, after amassing 419 in their only innings. He failed to recapture form as North and South, Derbyshire v the Arrival of the Australians 83