Lives in Cricket No 46 - George Raikes

19 Raikes’ Progress: From ‘Iron Gloves’ to Allrounder Raikes turned out only once for the full Norfolk side in 1891 and again failed to make much of an impression. Against Lincolnshire he made a ‘duck’s egg’ and nine in his two innings and his three overs brought no success. He did appear twice for the Club & Ground, and here did show some progress. In a defeat against Essex Club & Ground he put in an economical performance with the ball; the first evidence that he had a future as a bowler. In an innings victory over the Billingford Incapables he made 27 (the Eastern Daily Press stating that he “played well”) and gave further hints of ability as a bowler by taking a wicket in a tight spell during Billingford’s second innings. Membership of the county club set him back £1. During July 1891 the Eastern Daily Press held what it called “A Cricket Plebiscite”, inviting readers to vote for their favourite county players. It was tight at the top with the Rev A.C.Davies and Charlie Shore tied on 25 votes each and the now ageing professional, George Rye, in third place with 24 votes. The paper commented “If the composition of a representative Norfolk eleven depended upon some of our correspondents we are afraid the county would frequently find themselves in the field without a wicketkeeper”. For the record, regular stumpers Sergeant Smith and Charles Taylor each received four votes, which was four votes more than the young Salopian. The Eastern Daily Press was more encouraging, choosing to include him in an under-25 side to play an over-25 eleven for a hypothetical match. Making the Breakthrough The following year saw Raikes, no longer a schoolboy, make significant progress; he finished second in the county’s batting averages and was one of 28 active players who had been awarded his county colours. His first match was against Hertfordshire and in response to their opponents’ 202 all out, Norfolk had reached 92 for four when Raikes went out to join Fairfax Davies. They added 68 before Davies was dismissed and Raikes then added a further 103 with Arthur Hoare before being caught at cover point for 71. His innings lasted 110 minutes, contained seven ‘fours’, and was described as being in “excellent style”. Alas, the match petered out – as did the next fixture against Cambridgeshire. There was, however, time enough in the latter fixture for Raikes to play an attractive innings of 52 in which he “continued to make the most of the opportunities afforded him, and he sent the … ball in all directions, some of his strokes being particularly hard and clean.” Norfolk’s season followed with a shellacking when Hertfordshire compiled a somewhat pedestrian 246 but were lucky that Jupiter pluvius forced Norfolk to bat on a ‘treacherous wicket’. A follow- on and an innings defeat duly followed, with ‘Cold’ Pigg helping himself to ten wickets in the match. Raikes failed twice but his watchfulness was commented upon. His final total for Norfolk was 145 runs at an average of 29.00, ahead of the field but well behind Vincent Hoare who finished with 318 runs at 35.33 per innings.