Lives in Cricket No 46 - George Raikes

61 Playing Cricket At Oxford: A ‘Nearly’ Man Waiting outside the Lord’s Pavilion before the match was that enthusiast of all things amateur, ‘Pa’ Jackson (see chapter three), who was keen to know the identity of the eleventh man. When they approached, ‘Pa’ could see that Raikes was smiling broadly whilst Smith looked a little glum. To quote Jackson: “I assumed that the latter had not been chosen. I was wrong, however, and the fact was, I believe, that Raikes was the most pleased of the two (sic) that his friend had got his Blue, while Smith was correspondingly sorrowful at Raikes having missed his. This was true friendship indeed .” This story, if true, shows evidence of a self-effacing streak in Raikes that could only have aided him in his practice as a man of the cloth (note 9) . Looking Back at the Dreaming Spires Raikes’ career as a cricketer at Oxford must be considered something of a curiosity, a curate’s egg perhaps. Following his days at Shrewsbury he would have gone up anticipating a permanent place towards the head of the batting order for all four seasons permitted to him, with the possibility of the captaincy far from unlikely. As it turned out he disappointed with the bat at first-class level, averaging 12.77 with just one half-century, and his chances of obtaining ‘Blues’ depended on his skill with the ball. Here The Magdalen College Cricket XI of 1896, George Raikes’ fourth and final season at Oxford. Standing (from left): A.Page, M.Mort, R.N.Reed. Middle row (from left): G.B.Raikes, H.W.Kaye, C.C.Pilkington, H.T.Harben. Front (from left): B.N.Bosworth-Smith, H.D.G.Leveson-Gower, H.D.Corbet, F.L.Fane.