Raymond Eric East (born 20 June 1947, in

Manningtree Manningtree is a town and civil parish in the Tendring district of Essex, England, which lies on the River Stour. It is part of the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Natural Beauty. Smallest town claim Manningtree has traditionally claimed to b ...

) is an English former

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played for

Essex County Cricket Club Essex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Essex. Founded in 1876, the club had minor county status until 1894 when ...

. One of the most popular characters to play county cricket in recent times, East is remembered as much for his on field wit as his fine slow left arm spin bowling. For many years he formed an effective 'spin twin' partnership with

David Acfield David Laurence Acfield (born 24 July 1947) is an English former first-class cricketer who was also a champion fencer. Cricket career He was part of the successful Essex County Cricket Club team of the late 1970s and early 1980s and formed a no ...

and helped his Essex teammates break their historic trophy drought to challenge at the top of county and one day cricket. He played 405 matches for Essex from 1965 to 1984 and in 410 matches in all. He took 1019 wickets at 25.72, with five

wickets In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. * ...

in an innings 49 times, ten in a match ten times and a career best of 8 for 30. He scored 7178 runs at 17.72 in the lower order, with one hundred (113) and held 256 catches. He took 269 list A one-day wickets at 24.59 with a best of 6–18, although he once went for 79 in 8 overs in a Sunday league match.He often contributed important runs from batting at 9 or 10 and once shared a century partnership with John Lever at Westcliff From 1984–88 he was captain/manager of Essex 2nd XI and he played for

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

in 1991 and 1992 and now coaches cricket at

Ipswich School Ipswich School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils aged 3 to 18 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. North of the town centre, Ipswich School has four parts on three adjacent sites. The Pre-Prep and Nursery ...

. He was a member of the

Derrick Robins Derrick Harold Robins (27 June 1914 – 3 May 2004) was an English cricketer and sports promoter, at one time chairman of Coventry City Football Club. He was born in Bexleyheath, Kent. Robins played two matches for Warwickshire in 1947, but did ...

XI that toured South Africa in 1973.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:East, Ray 1947 births Living people Essex cricketers English cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Suffolk cricketers Suffolk cricket captains People from Tendring (district) Sportspeople from Essex D. H. Robins' XI cricketers