Lives in Cricket No 46 - George Raikes

114 The Rector of Bergh Apton - The End of a Muscular Christian for ten to wrap up a victory by 16 runs. In May 1924, a notice appeared in the Eastern Daily Press indicating that Raikes’ eligibility (or otherwise) was once more concerning the organisers of at least one sporting competition: “The Rev G.B.Raikes has played regularly for the village team at Bergh Apton since he became rector of the parish, and, ten years having elapsed since he played his last County match, the old Oxonian is now eligible for the [prestigious Norfolk] Junior Cup. He did not get sufficient help to enable Bergh Apton to beat Langley, for whom Sayers took six wickets for 16.” Although Bergh Apton failed to prosper in the Norfolk Junior Cup, their apparent withdrawal from the Falcon Cup meant that they had another successful season, winning six of the eight matches recorded in print. Raikes made a round half century (out of 94) against Seething, whose innings of 41 meant that they were not the first team who were single- handedly outscored by Raikes, whilst in what turned out to be his final game for Bergh Apton (published in the Eastern Daily Press of 8 July), he took six for 10 to dismiss Boulton & Paul’s for just 36 and, when Bergh Apton batted on (as was the custom in those days), he accounted for 35 runs of their final total of 75. Before Raikes was able to turn out again, Bergh Apton’s ground had been ‘developed’ and that brought about the permanent demise of cricket in the village. There was one record of a ‘Bergh Apton Ramblers’ turning out in May 1925, presumably signalling an intention to keep cricket alive in the village but this does not appear to have been a success and details of no further games were published in the press. From his first appearance to the enforced winding up of the club, Raikes played in 22 games for which scores survive; of these 15 were won, one tied, one drawn and only five lost. He was unable to turn out in 24 fixtures, of which 13 were won, one drawn and ten were lost – in other words Bergh Apton lost almost twice as many games in the absence of Raikes as they did when he was available. Furthermore, where details are available (and bowling figures were frequently absent), the clergyman’s presence was usually vital in securing victory for his parish. Raikes’ performances for Bergh Apton raise two questions. The first is – why would he want to drop so far in standard as to play against the likes of NUFO second XI (not even the first XI), having been good enough to be selected to play against the Australian tourists no fewer than three times? The second is – was Raikes’ faith comfortable with his lording it over a collection of opponents who can only be described as of very low standard? In answer to the first question, one can observe that Raikes is far from the only cricketer of genuine talent to wish to continue his cricket after the ‘dying of the light’. One only has to move a few parishes in south Norfolk to find oneself in Tacolneston, a village whose club has recently folded but who, in the 1990s included a cricketer with first-class experience in