Thomas Raikes (cricketer)

Thomas Barkley Raikes (16 December 1902 – 2 March 1984) was an Indian-born English

He was educated at Winchester College, and in 1921 had a particularly fine year: he captained the side, topped the bowling averages and was second in the batting averages. In July against Charterhouse, he scored 94 and then took 8/14, no runs at all being conceded by him until he had taken all eight wickets.^[1] After going up to Trinity College, Oxford, and taking 5/5 in the (non-first-class) Freshmen's match, Raikes was brought into the full university side.

Wisden considered that "[a]t this point it seemed that he might well take his place among the leading bowlers of the day", but although he had a good 1923 season, he never lived up to this early promise as he put on weight, having found "the pleasure of life at Oxford too alluring".^[1] He did, however, turn in an excellent performance against the Army in 1924, taking 13 wickets in the match.^[2] Neither his match figures of 13/80 nor his second-innings return of 9/38 have been beaten since (as of 2009) by an Oxford bowler.^[3][4]

In June 1922, during Oxford's match against Surrey at The Oval, Raikes was involved in a bizarre run-out incident: he and his batting partner R. C. Robertson-Glasgow became hopelessly confused over a second, then third, run, and ended up at the same end on both occasions. Meanwhile, the Surrey fielders repeatedly fumbled the ball before eventually wicket-keeper Herbert Strudwick managed to remove the bails. Even then, it was unclear which of the batsmen was out: Robertson-Glasgow said that Raikes walked off of his own accord, while another tale says that the matter was settled by the toss of a coin.^[5]

Two of Raikes' relatives played first-class cricket: his father

References

External links

• Thomas Raikes at ESPNcricinfo