Lives in Cricket No 7 - Richard Daft

beautiful and the ground like india-rubber, too quick for Daft in the field.’ Richard made 39 against Yorkshire at Trent Bridge when Notts avenged their innings defeat of a month before. They achieved the respectability of 228. Yorkshire, who batted only with ten men, were dismissed for 69 and followed on to be put out for 95. Morley and Shaw yet again bowled unchanged. Match after match that August was played on pitches spoiled by rain, and batsmen found run-getting very difficult. After a drawn game dominated by W.G. for Gloucestershire, Notts travelled to Clifton College for the return match beginning on 12 August. This was, astonishingly, Gloucestershire’s first home match of the season: the weather was no better, the wicket was awful, and only 419 runs were made in the match. Unfortunately for Notts, Gloucestershire in their two innings scored 264 against their visitors’ 155. Richard made three and nought, caught off W.G. second time around. He took a rest when Notts visited Derby and won an easy victory, but returned to the side when Middlesex came to Trent Bridge, and after Fred Morley had erased their first attempt for 85, Richard helped give Notts a good start, hitting up 30 out of 66 before being second out. Notts achieved a lead of 180: a blank second day and a drenching downfall on the last afternoon saved Middlesex from defeat. Richard did not travel to The Oval where Notts put out Surrey for 53 and 92 to win by 139 runs, but he presided over a one-sided match when Kent were dismissed for 94 first time around, and had struggled to 74 for 8 wickets in their second, amid showers which washed out the last part of the match. In his batting for the county, Richard was no means prominent in the batting list in first-class matches, as can be seen from the table below: On 3 September 1878, a major disaster struck when two river steamers came into collision on the Thames at Woolwich. One, the Princess Alice , was broken into two and, in horrible anticipation of the Marchioness incident 111 years later, over 700 people died. Arrival of the Australians 85 M I NO R HS Ave 100 50 J.Selby 14 20 1 575 107 30.26 1 5 W.Oscroft 15 24 1 524 77 22.78 - 2 A.Shrewbury 13 20 3 353 74* 20.76 - 2 R.Daft 12 17 1 331 69* 20.68 - 2 W.Barnes 15 23 7 307 56* 19.18 - 1 W.Flowers 15 22 2 372 57 18.60 - 2