Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Daft, Richard
DAFT, RICHARD (1835–1900), cricketer, was born at Nottingham on 2 Nov. 1835, and learned cricket as a boy from George Butler and Harry Hall, both old county players. Daft commenced his career as an amateur in 1857, and played for the gentlemen in 1858, when he received a prize bat; but from the close of that year he commenced to play as a professional for Nottinghamshire, which county he served regularly until 1881. He was probably at his best between 1861 and 1876, and in the early seventies he had no superior but Dr. W. G. Grace. His most creditable scores include 118 for the North v. the South at Lord's in 1862 (without 'giving the ghost of a chance'), 111 at Old Trafford in 1867 for the All England Eleven against the United and the bowling of George Freeman, 102 for the Players in 1872, and 161 for Nottinghamshire v. Yorkshire at Trent Bridge in June 1873. He captained the Nottingham team for nine years, after the retirement of George Parr [q. v.], and maintained the high position of his county. In 1879 he took a team composed of some of the best Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire professionals to Canada and the United States.
He was in his early days an extremely fine field, and after relinquishing first-class cricket he often made enormous scores as an amateur against good players. In 1891 he was induced once more (as substitute for Shrewsbury) to represent Nottinghamshire at the Oval, and also played for his county at Clifton and Trent Bridge. As a batsman he was distinguished for elegance and style.
Tall and well proportioned, he held himself remarkably well, and 'utilised every inch of his height.' He held the bat 'lightly as regards the left hand, putting great pressure on the handle with the forefinger of his right.
His style of play was without the slightest suspicion of flourish. The easy way he would play back at a good length ball on the off-stump was worth going miles to see. Willsher once said to me, "When Richard plays that ball I always feel as if he said, 'If that's all you can do, Ned, you'd better put somebody else on at once'"' (Caffyn, Seventy-one Not Out, 1899, p. 129). In a period when matches were fewer and pitches far more uncertain than at present, Daft never scored a thousand runs during a season; but in 1867 and again in 1870 he had an average over fifty, while in 1867 he attained an average of sixty-seven. In his last years he often stood umpire, and in 1893 he issued his interesting recollections under the title 'Kings of Cricket,' to which was prefixed an essay by Mr. Andrew Lang. Daft retired to the native place of his old captain, George Parr, at Radclyffe-on-Trent, where he had a small brewery. There he died on 18 July 1900, leaving two sons.
[Daft's Kings of Cricket (with portraits); Caffyn's Seventy-one Not Out, passim; W. G. Grace's Cricketing Reminiscences, 1899, p. 337; Ranjitsinhji's Jubilee Book of Cricket, 1897, p. 418; Cricket, August 1891; Fores's Sporting Notes and Sketches, 1892; Gale's Echoes from Old Cricket Fields, 1896; Lillywhite's Cricket Scores and Biographies; Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack, 1901, liv; Times and Daily News, 19 July 1900.]