Lives in Cricket No 46 - George Raikes

59 151 runs, obtained with just ten minutes to spare (proof that that target was indeed ungenerous). The following match saw XII of Oxford crush XII of Somerset by an innings and 107 runs. The county were unlucky in that they conceded 314 on a perfect wicket (Raikes playing ‘steadily’ for his 22) on the first day only for overnight rain to render the surface treacherous. At first Leveson-Gower depended heavily on his main bowlers, Cunliffe and Percival Waddy, who bowled no fewer than 73.4 of the 103.4 overs that comprised Somerset’s first innings. Raikes was economical but unpenetrative and must have been a little surprised when his skipper, who was obliged by the laws of the time to enforce the follow-on, asked him to open the bowling with Cunliffe. Somerset subsided abjectly for just 61, Cunliffe returning figures of six for 23 and Raikes five for 31 as they bowled unchanged. It is a little unclear as to exactly how horrible the wicket was by now but the Daily Telegraph praised the two bowlers, describing their analyses as ‘splendid’. At long last Raikes appeared to have ‘cracked it’ – he had claims to be regarded as a front-line bowler. Alas those claims proved to be illusory he lost both form and the trust of Leveson-Gower. In the next three matches (a victory over Surrey, a defeat by the Australians and an innings win over a weak MCC side) he was largely a spectator, his only achievement of note being to catch Clem Hill off his own bowling. Leveson-Gower relied almost completely on Cunliffe and John Hartley with Waddy in reserve. A crystal ball was not needed to see that, should Raikes gain his third ‘Blue’, it was Playing Cricket At Oxford: A ‘Nearly’ Man H.D.G.Leveson-Gower, captain of the Oxford Cricket XI of 1896; he omitted Raikes at the last minute in favour of G.O.Smith, who went on to score a match-winning century.