In the summer of 1898, having not played for the university cricket team, he was picked for six Somerset matches by captain Sammy Woods.

Up to 1904, he played a few matches each season for Somerset, but he was not notably successful as a cricketer and at the end of 1904 he left England to work in his family's tea estates in India.

[4] After Woods retired from the captaincy in 1906, Lionel Palairet, opening batsman and Test player, who had played for Somerset since the county side's elevation to first-class status in 1891, took over for 1907.

[5] The professional staff was cut to just three and Daniell embarked on the policy that was to serve Somerset well for many years: recruiting players from far and wide, particularly from the public schools and the English universities, but also from overseas.

As a player, Daniell was a pugnacious batsman of no exceptional talent, batting mostly in the middle order but occasionally promoting himself to open the innings.

His main role, though, was as an aggressive captain who used all means at his disposal to make up for the playing deficiencies of the Somerset sides of his time.

"[6] A less reliable tale, but still apparently in character, was told by the writer Neville Cardus in Playfair Cricket Monthly in 1967.