George Dawkes

George Owen Dawkes (19 July 1920 – 10 August 2006) was a first-class cricketer who played for Leicestershire between 1937 and 1939 and for Derbyshire between 1947 and 1961 as a wicket keeper and a lower-order right-handed batsman. During the 1949–50 season he toured India with a team of players making up a Commonwealth XI.

Dawkes was born at Leicester and made his debut for Leicestershire in the 1937 season at the age of 16. According to Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, he "was claimed to be the youngest wicket-keeper ever to take part in county cricket". He played in 11 matches in the 1937 season as replacement for the injury-prone main wicketkeeper, Percy Corrall, taking 13 catches and making four stumpings. For a player who later earned a reputation as a solid lower-order batsman, his batting record was singular: in 17 innings, he made 53 runs, and never once reached double figures.

In 1938 and 1939, though Corrall was fit again, Dawkes was preferred as Leicestershire's first-choice wicketkeeper. He was awarded his county cap in 1938 and by the end of the season he was batting regularly at No 7 or No 8, which would remain his usual batting place for the rest of his career. He made his first two scores of more than 50 in 1939, and his 81 against Somerset in a follow-on that almost turned into a victory was his highest score for Leicestershire. Leicestershire finished bottom of the County Championship in 1939, but Dawkes' wicketkeeping earned praise from Wisden: "Without doubt the brightest part of the Leicestershire cricket was the magnificent wicket-keeping of Dawkes, who also showed much improvement with the bat," it wrote. "Many competent judges regarded Dawkes as an England wicket-keeper of the future."