Lives in Cricket No 46 - George Raikes

84 Chapter Eight Raikes’ Second Spell for Norfolk: The Minor Counties Championship Won In 1904, Raikes found himself back in his native Norfolk, attending to his religious duties in one of the parishes of Lakenham, a suburb of Norwich (note 1) and, though he did not stay there long, he remained in Norfolk, ministering to the parishioners of Great Ellingham in 1905 (note 2) . Having slipped under the cricketing ‘radar’ for a couple of years, the summer of 1904 saw him able to play for Norfolk for the first time in seven years, turning out in three Championship matches. He topped the batting with an average of 49.20 and, though he only took nine relatively expensive wickets in competitive matches, he found the Free Foresters easier to bowl against, as will be described below. In his first match, he greeted Suffolk to their first ever Championship match with an innings of 145. Going in with the score at one for two, he was seventh out with the score at 240; his hundred came up in just over two hours, the whole innings lasting just two hours and 45 minutes. The Eastern Daily Press reported that “when well set Raikes played all the bowling with some amount of ease, and scored with freedom, driving especially with considerable power. After reaching his hundred he handled the tired bowlers very severely, and was batting almost recklessly at the close of his innings. No chances marred this fine display … [he] made some good strokes to leg and to the off, his driving being full of power.” This was not the obdurate sort of innings that he had played for Norfolk in the 1890s but a far more aggressive knock altogether. Suffolk were overwhelmed and went down by an innings. The presence of just one signature of George Raikes, set down whilst serving as a curate, in the parish records of Great Ellingham indicates that he did not move directly from Portsea to Welbeck but did indeed spend some time in Norfolk.