Lives in Cricket No 46 - George Raikes

16 The Early Life of George Barkley Raikes; Family and Schooling note 4: Ernest Barkley Raikes was educated at Haileybury and Keble College, Oxford, but made his fortune as a barrister in India, where he resided for about 20 years. Although a highly successful bowler at Haileybury, and described by Lillywhite as “a first-rate slow bowler … breaks both ways”, he failed to obtain a ‘Blue’. He made his debut for Norfolk against the Free Foresters in 1882 and was obliged to send down 81 overs for just two wickets; however his analyses soon improved and, when available, he was Norfolk’s most effective bowler. His best year was undoubtedly that of 1888, when he took 58 wickets (more than the rest of Norfolk’s attack combined). During that year, he was largely responsible for the one-wicket defeat of The Parsees and followed that by becoming the first, and still the only, Norfolk bowler to take 17 wickets in a match (with innings figures of 8-47 and 9-44) in the tied fixture with Hertfordshire. After 1889 his appearances for Norfolk were highly sporadic, but, playing in 40 games, he finished with exactly 200 wickets at an average of 15.27 each. In later life he was an active member of the county committee. If Raikes’ legal career reduced his chances to turn out for Norfolk, it offered him the opportunity to play top quality cricket in India and he shone there as much as he did in his home county. He played in nine first-class matches in a career stretching from 1892/93 to 1900/01. His final haul consisted of 49 wickets; apart from one match for Bombay against Lord Hawke’s tourists, all his games were for the Europeans against the Parsees. The latter would have been glad to see the back of Ernest for he took 46 victims at barely nine apiece. He took ten wickets in a match twice, with a career-best return of 8-22. note 5: Going up to Oxford in 1922, Thomas Barkley Raikes was immediately drafted into the Varsity side, finishing the season with 40 wickets at an average of 20.72. He bowled particularly well at Lord’s, where his analysis of 44-19-65- 3 in a Cambridge total of 403 for four declared represented sterling work. At this point it seemed that a bright career awaited; “strongly built, he could bowl accurately for long periods at a brisk medium, with plenty of swerve and spin and some subtle variations of pace”. Unfortunately this promise was never fulfilled; finding the fleshpots of Oxford somewhat alluring he rapidly put on too much weight to be an effective paceman. He did little in 1923 and, though he fared better in the following year (with an analysis of nine for 38 against the Army), he finally lost his place in 1925. Besides playing 38 first-class matches he made 24 appearances for Norfolk in the Minor Counties Championship, but on going down he went abroad and played no more serious cricket. He is remembered as a talent somewhat wasted. note 6: His wife, Martha, lived on into old age, finally passing away in 1924. note 7: Amongst the family, Maud was known as ‘Belle’, her twin sister, Ethel, was ‘Ben’ and her other sister, Lilias Gertrude, was referred to as ‘Day’. I am indebted to Mrs Joan Raikes for providing this information. Alas, she has no information as to the derivation of these unusual nicknames! note 8: I am grateful to Robin Brooke-Smith, the Taylor Librarian and Archivist of Shrewsbury School who most generously supplied me with the information on George Raikes’ schooldays. note 9: There does not seem to have been a lasting family connection with Shrewsbury School. The Salopian of 1892 does refer to the Right Hon Henry Cecil Raikes; who served as an MP, deputy Speaker and Postmaster General but who was only a second cousin to George Barkley Raikes. However, Edward Grayson declared that Shrewsbury was a “great home of public school soccer” and it is just possible that Raikes’ love of association football was developed at an early age and influenced his choice of school. note 10: Robin Brooke-Smith informs me that it was not unusual for a boy to enter the school in the summer rather than the subsequent Michaelmas Term. note 11: He also won the school high jump competition. note 12: Raikes retained his skill as a skipper when playing for Norfolk in the 20th century and improved his fielding to a point where it, too, received rave reviews. The reference to his bowling being ‘difficult’ is the first of a couple of hints that there might be something slightly ‘experimental’ about his method of attack.