Lives in Cricket No 46 - George Raikes

70 the end of the second day’s play. Raikes bowled 11 overs, conceding 33 runs and failing to take a wicket. Until the end of the second day’s play the wicket had played well and the Oxford openers (C.B.Fry and current ‘Blue’ Hubert Pilkington) looked in little trouble – unfortunately, the onset of bright sun spelled disaster for Oxford, who collapsed from 76 for none to 135 on a spiteful wicket. Raikes was promoted to bat at three but failed to trouble the scorers. Australia duly won by ten wickets. In May 1900, Raikes scored 113 out of 230 for XVIII of Portsmouth (ten of whom belonged to the White Company) against Hampshire, who responded with 173 for nine. The match was played at the Officers’ Ground in front of several hundred spectators. This performance may have tempted Hampshire to take a ‘punt’ on Raikes who was unlikely to star but who might ‘do a job’ as a bits-and-pieces player in the County Championship. In truth Hampshire, who were never the strongest of counties, had also been more severely weakened by the Boer War than any other side. With many players serving queen and country, they were nothing short of desperate and might well have offered the locally-based Raikes the chance to play some Championship matches regardless of his form. He did not let them down. Raikes made his debut against Derbyshire on 4 June 1900 and, whilst Hampshire as a side struggled to a defeat by 177 runs, he put in one of his best all-round performances in the first-class game. Given the ‘cherry’, he bowled steadily for figures of 26-6-74-4; with Thomas Soar also bowling well it took Derbyshire the whole of the first day to score their 338 runs. Unfortunately for Hampshire, the wicket had already begun to deteriorate badly and, on the second morning, they had lost three wickets cheaply when Raikes went out to join skipper Charles Robson. The Manchester Guardian stated that “[they] added 49 runs in 40 minutes, both men showing admirable form”. Alas, after Henry Bagshaw dismissed them both (Robson for 42 and Raikes for 41), Hampshire subsided for 134 with no other batsman contributing significantly. Derbyshire declined to enforce the follow-on, preferring instead to go for quick runs. Many of these were off Raikes and the innings closing at 175; this left Hampshire a notional target of 380. Although their second effort was an improvement on their first, they barely reached 200. The only innings of consequence were by Arthur Webb with 64 and by Raikes who finished with 49. It was commented that “he batted admirably” and, considering the game as a whole, that he was “a decided success”. It was over three weeks before Raikes was called on again; he may have been unavailable for at least part of this time as he had to go up to Oxford in order to take his MA on 23 June 1900. His next match was against Warwickshire and he was once more given the new ball; however, this time he was unsuccessful until he returned for a later spell when, according to the Daily Telegraph , “the Warwickshire tail collapsed before the bowling of the Rev G.B.Raikes”. He finished with four for 48. The final total of 184 looked to be inadequate but, when Hampshire came to bat, it was only some effective wagging of the tail that gave them a slender lead of The Curate of Portsea; Was Raikes A Muscular Christian?