Cricket Career
| Harry Daft | ||||
| Personal information | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batting style | Right-hand batsman | |||
| Bowling style | Slow | |||
| International information | ||||
| National side | English | |||
| Career statistics | ||||
| First-class | ||||
| 200 | ||||
| 4370 | ||||
| 15.89 | ||||
| 0/17 | ||||
| 92* | ||||
| 4881 | ||||
| 86 | ||||
| 26.03 | ||||
| 1 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 5/79 | ||||
| 81/- | ||||
| Source: , | ||||
Harry Daft was the second son of Richard Daft, who was one of the best batsmen of his day. At Trent College he played for the college XI when only 12 and showed such increased skill as he played with his seniors that in 1885, when 19, he was tried for Nottinghamshire in several games. He made his first-class debut on 28 May 1885 against Marylebone Cricket Club and was top scorer for the county, making 23 in the first innings before being bowled by W. G. Grace. He made his County Championship debut at Yorkshire on 29 June and went on to play in five championship matches that season.
The next season he appeared for Gentlemen v. Players at the Oval and he assisted Nottinghamshire as an amateur until he turned professional in 1890. According to his obituary in Wisden, he was "especially strong in defence, with skill in placing his strokes, he never suggested forcing ability and scarcely reached the high standard of his county's best batsmen". In August 1891, he played with his father in the county eleven, at Kennington Oval against Surrey. Richard Daft had returned to the Nottinghamshire side after an absence of ten years because Arthur Shrewsbury was forced to stand down through injury. Neither father nor son made any particular impact in this game, with Harry scoring 5 and 0, and his father 12 and 2 as Surrey won by an innings and 46 runs.
His best season with the bat was in 1894 when he totalled 596 runs at an average of 19.22. He achieved his first class top score at the end of August against Kent at Trent Bridge with 92 not out. Against Surrey at The Oval in August 1896 he carried his bat through the second innings for 77 in a vain attempt to save his side from defeat. His best bowling figures of 5-79 came in the County Championship match against Kent at Mote Park, Maidstone in July. His best season’s haul was 23 wickets in 1897.
Altogether, he scored 4370 runs, at an average of 15.89, took 86 wickets at 26.03 runs apiece, and held 81 catches in first-class cricket. Continuing in county cricket until 1899, he played his highest innings for Nottinghamshire, not out 103, against Northamptonshire in 1897, but that was not a first-class match, Northamptonshire not being raised to the championship group until 1905.
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