Derbyshire veteran George Dawkes dies

George Dawkes, who was a stalwart of the Derbyshire side immediately after WW2, has died at the age of 86.A specialist wicketkeeper who grew in competence as a batsman, Dawkes made his first-class debut for Leicestershire in 1937 at the age of 17 and almost immediately established himself in a county side that was languishing at the foot of the Championship. He was an ever-present in 1938 and 1939 but his progress was then curtailed by the war.After being demobbed in 1947, Dawkes switched to Derbyshire and was a permanent member of the side until 1960. Although he never scored 1000 runs in a season, he regularly topped 700 and three times passed 900. His one first-class hundred came against Hampshire at Burton-on-Trent in 1954, when he came in at 72 for 6 and shared a seventh-wicket stand of 191 with John Kelly.He toured India with a Commonwealth XI in 1949-50 and twice represented the Players. In all, he made 1042 dismissals (894 catches and 148 stumpings) and scored 11,411 runs at 18.08.