Lives in Cricket No 46 - George Raikes

69 a little stronger at cricket than they were at football. Among his successes were an innings of 60 not out for the Rev Nelson’s XI against Sherborne School in June 1898, another of 84 for Portsea Vicarage against the Royal Marine Artillery (RMA) in June 1899 and a staggering innings of 185 out of 219 for Portsea Clergy, also against Sherborne School in June 1900. (The School battled hard and were dismissed for 211, only losing by eight runs.) Raikes played no first-class cricket in 1897 or 1898 but was selected to represent Oxford University Past and Present against the Australian tourists, starting on 19 June 1899. The hosts were not strong; only eight of them were old “Blues” and only C.B.Fry and skipper Leveson-Gower were household names. Raikes, whose record in first-class cricket for Oxford had not been outstanding, may have owed his selection to the facts that his performances in club cricket had been noteworthy and that the match was being played on the United Services Ground, Portsmouth, which was more-or-less his ‘home’ ground. His contribution to a match that saw overnight rain fall before each of the three days’ play was minimal (though he was able to keep his end up long enough to add 50 with the aggressive Leveson-Gower). The first spell of rain induced Joe Darling to insert Oxford and he would have been a little disappointed that they reached a total of 251, Raikes’ share being 19. The Australians started badly and, when the sixth wicket fell with the total at just 205, the match was finely balanced. At this point J.J.Kelly (89), Frank Laver (79) and Charles McLeod (41 not out) collared the Oxford attack, reaching 373 for eight before declaring at Whilst turning out for the Portsea Clergy against Sherborne School, Raikes played an innings of 185, made out of a total of just 219. The Curate of Portsea; Was Raikes A Muscular Christian?