Lives in Cricket No 7 - Richard Daft

stand in the second Toronto match, and five tourists, including Richard, scored over 20 in Hamilton when they made 186, their highest score in Canada. Would they meet a better class of opposition in the States? Eighteen of Detroit could manage only 59 in the opening fixture, which was spoiled on the third day by rain. At the end of September, 1879, they reached New York, where they faced Twenty-two of Central New York, whose 44 visits to the crease produced only 94 runs! On Staten Island the local club showed better form, scoring 67 and 94, and their professional George Lane, from Notts, took five for 57. A week later they travelled south to Philadelphia where Browne had some cause for enthusiasm, writing: ‘It was a great satisfaction to find that we had in Philadelphia a first class set of cricketers with whom every exertion must be put forth and, not only that, there was a community where cricket was as popular as at Nottingham, Sheffield or Canterbury. At Germantown, a suburb of Philadelphia, there is a strong English colony at the hosiery and other factories. One day, during the three day match, we had nearly 12,000 spectators on the ground.’ He noted: ‘700 or 800 ladies watched the game with the greatest interest . . . they kept scoring sheets to keep an exact account of the game. The behaviour of the vast crowds was very orderly and though the working classes drink lager beer in considerable quantities, there was better behaviour than on an English ground.’ Against a Philadelphia fifteen, played on 10, 11 and 13 October, the Englishmen were put in to bat. Ulyett, accompanied by Oscroft, began brilliantly until he was caught behind. When Shrewsbury was run out, the score stood at 34 for three on a very fast, indeed fiery, pitch. Richard slaved away for an hour for no more than five runs. Oscroft and Bates made a long stand for the sixth wicket in contrasting styles – Bates (41) knocked the bowling all over the field, while Oscroft displayed patience and coolness for his 62. The touring side then made an enormous effort in the field and led by 79 on the first innings. They set Philadelphia 201 to win, and emerged as winners by 145 runs. Richard’s team stayed in or around Philadelphia nearly a fortnight, and Browne wrote enthusiastically about the city. There were fewer Irishmen there than he had observed in other American cities: except from the Irish, the side met with friendliness and courtesy. Yet, except for the bowling of Logan, the cricket of the America 93