Lives in Cricket No 46 - George Raikes

77 Chapter Seven Raikes’ Metamorphosis As A Bowler Comments on Raikes’ bowling in his early days did not specify on his methods, limiting themselves to descriptions such as “fair change bowler” and “most favourable”. Gaining his ‘Blue’ in 1894, his bowling was described as right-arm fast-medium or fast, with a good length and not very easy to see - a somewhat cryptic comment. He was useful to his University team, and, when he took Holy Orders and went to serve as curate in Portsea, Hampshire were very glad to avail themselves of his services in nine first- class matches. Again, there was a general lack of information on his style of bowling, with the exception of the one match for St Mary’s in June 1902, in which he was reported as having bowled leg-breaks (note 1) . After 1897, Raikes was unable to get away and play for Norfolk for no fewer than six consecutive seasons, but when he returned in 1904 it was as the county’s best batsman and, more intriguingly, as a front-line bowler of slow leg breaks. A couple of quotes in the Eastern Daily Press of July and August for that year made it clear that he had radically altered his mode of attack: “bowling slow curlers” “turning ball from Raikes” “slow tricky stuff that G.B.Raikes bowls so well” “Fox [was] bowled by a ball which whipped in from leg and which he did not attempt to play” His final bag in all matches consisted of 21 wickets at a cheap rate of 16.81 each. In 1905 he captained Norfolk and he played a big part in winning the Minor Counties’ Championship for the eastern county; his bag was 27 wickets at 15.78. Although Norfolk slipped back in 1906, he took more wickets (34) more cheaply (at 14.09) than any other season so far. The Norfolk Cricket Annual enthused: “He is a magnificent field and he knows the game thoroughly. He was quick to realise the possibilities in the direction of the ‘googly’ bowler, and practices it effectively. Mr Raikes is also a fine fielder to his own bowling.” During the season, he particularly bamboozled Oxfordshire “no-one played him really well … a really good performance.” According to Bernard Bosanquet, the populariser of the googly, he had started experimenting with it in 1897, first employed it to claim a first-class wicket in July 4, 1900 and had more or less lost control of it by the end of the 1905 season. Raikes must have been one of the earliest disciples of the new delivery and one would not be indulging in wild conjecture if one suggested that he might have picked it up at Oxford University whilst socialising with Bosanquet, who had also started out as a purveyor of fast-medium trundlers. It would almost certainly have taken Raikes a couple of years to master the new delivery (note 2) .