Lives in Cricket No 46 - George Raikes

102 2-156-7; reasonable figures in terms of runs per wicket but unacceptably profligate in conceding in excess of five runs an over. Durham treated Raikes’ bowling even more severely as he finished with a match analysis of 31-6-172-5. The Duke of Portland then required Raikes to return and he missed the next four Norfolk matches before being permitted to play in the final three of the season. As chance would have it, the first of these matches was the return match against Hertfordshire – how would Raikes fare against a batting line-up that had completely mastered him earlier in the season? The answer was delayed, first because Raikes was again late in arriving from Welbeck and second because stand-in skipper, Birkbeck, won the toss and chose to bat, justifying his decision by scoring a century. When it was Hertfordshire’s turn to bat, Raikes came on first change and, having quickly removed his one-time nemesis Golding, bowled almost unchanged to record excellent figures of six for 79. He was less successful in the second innings, going wicket-less (like several other bowlers) as Hertfordshire finished a gallant chase on 317 for three as they pursued 346 for victory. The next match, against Northumberland, saw Raikes as a paradigm of the erratic leg spinner – unplayable one minute but ‘help yourself’ the next. In the opposition’s first innings he bowled splendidly, running through the middle order to return figures of five for 61 and allowing him the luxury of enforcing the follow-on; in the second innings he was more expensive and not particularly deadly but Norfolk still managed to force the win. The final match of the season saw, perhaps, Raikes’ best display of bowling of the summer. Finding quickie Harold Watson putting in an incisive spell against Bedfordshire, Raikes played a supporting role, keeping things tight throughout 22 overs and eventually picking up three wickets. He also ran out George Wharmby with an example of the fielding off his own bowling that was often remarked upon in the press. In Bedfordshire’s second innings, he combined with Michael Falcon to tumble them out for just 153 in just 43.5 overs, each bowler taking a five-wicket haul. According to the press, Raikes was “turning the ball a good deal” and was too good for Bedfordshire who lost by nine wickets. And so Raikes’ captaincy, which had yielded two outright Championships in just four years, came to a somewhat disappointing end. Looking back, it is a mystery why Norfolk had such a disappointing season in 1911 for, besides winning the title in 1910, they also went on to triumph in 1913 and to reach the Championship final in 1912 only to be thwarted when rain led to the cancellation of the play off (note 7) . It remains only be noted both that, in 1911, when Raikes bowled well Norfolk’s display tended to improve and that his batting fell away markedly. Passing On The Baton When the 1912 season started, Raikes was 39 years of age and he might possibly have continued to skipper for another couple of years. However, Norfolk had a splendid young captain in the making in Michael Falcon Raikes’ Third Spell For Norfolk: The Championship Won Again