Son of the Nottinghamshire and England stalwart Richard Daft, Richard Parr Daft – Parr was his mother’s maiden name and not connected to that other great Nottingham sporting family – played in just one First-Class match for the county.
Against Surrey at Trent Bridge in July 1886, he scored five, did not bowl and took no catches; he did not represent the county again, playing most of his cricket for Radcliffe-on-Trent, his home village (he was born on 25 October 1863).
His top score was 242no for Radcliffe v Nottingham St Luke’s and he scored two other centuries – 124 for an XI of Nottinghamshire v North Riding in 1887 and 110 for the Amateurs against the Professionals in an 1896 trial match at Trent Bridge. In that match his brother Harry appeared for the Professionals and his uncle, Charles, stood as umpire. In that same year, Daft played three games for Berkshire in the Minor Counties Championship. Ten years earlier he had been one of XVI for Skegness and Visitors to play the touring Australians at Skegness; the XVI, which included three members of the Daft family and many more Notts first-team players, won by nine wickets. R P Daft's contribution was two innings worth 17 and 4.
Away from cricket, R P Daft was manager of the family brewery at Radcliffe-on-Trent; he died in South Croydon, Surrey, on 27 March 1934.
May 2020
Nottinghamshire First-Class Number: 188