Lives in Cricket No 46 - George Raikes

39 Chapter Four Raikes the International ‘Keeper’ At the start of the 1894-95 season Raikes continued to shine for the Casuals, causing the Eastern Daily Press to remark of the upcoming match between Norfolk County and Cambridge University “There has been a difficulty about a goalkeeper for [Norfolk County], and at the time of writing it is not known whether G.B.Raikes, who has been gaining favour in town by means of his excellent displays for the Casuals, will be able to don Norfolk colours on this occasion.” Hope springs eternal … as it turns out, Raikes’ skilful custodianship might have made all the difference as Norfolk escaped their usual pasting and only lost by 5-4. Despite his absence from the county of his birth, the Norfolk paper continued to celebrate Raikes’ achievements in London and “Norfolk’s champion goalkeeper is… in great demand. What with the University matches…Casuals, and London, G.B.Raikes cannot complain of a lack of opportunities. They have evidently formed a high opinion of his abilities, for I find his name down for two important engagements this month, London v Northamptonshire and London v Sheffield.” Raikes certainly repaid the selectors’ faith in him in the second of these fixtures, much to the glee of the Eastern Daily Press : “ G.B.Raikes had some excellent practice in the London v Sheffield fixture. The game must have been something like that at Cambridge a few seasons back, when the Cantabs were potting at the Norfolk goal nearly all the time (see chapter three). On Saturday the Londoners suffered defeat by ten goals to one. The Sportsman says that, with the exception of about four break-aways, which were easily stopped, the Londoners were hardly ever over the half-way line, and all the play went on in front of Raikes, who exhibited splendid form. Had it not been for the display of Raikes in goal – and he was in brilliant form – the defeat must have been much heavier, for he saved a multitude of shots which seemed certain to score.” As his reputation grew, so there was a subtle change in Raikes’ choice of sides for which to play. On 16 October, his participation in a 4-3 victory over Sunderland by the Casuals (note 1) meant that he had appeared in ten matches for them but would go on to play in only four more before he retired. In contrast he had still turned out for the Corinthians on just the one occasion, at the end of the previous season, but would go on to play for them in 20 more fixtures in the next two years. That he had been ‘promoted’ to the senior of the two gentlemen’s clubs and would be invited to turn out in the majority of the fixtures (note 2) was clear evidence that he was being groomed for higher things – perhaps even international honours? (note 3) .