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George Barkley Raikes (14 March 1873 – 18 December 1966) was an English sportsman and clergyman. As a sportsman, he played first-class cricket for Oxford University and Hampshire, as well as playing association football at international level for the England national football team. His ecclesiastical career lasted from his ordination in 1897, to his retirement in 1936.
Raikes played in Norfolk's inaugural Minor Counties Championship match against Lincolnshire in 1895, though after top-scoring with 27 in Norfolk's first innings, he was recalled midway through the match by Oxford captain Gerald Mordaunt to travel to Mote Park to play against Kent. He made six appearances that season, including as captain in Norfolk's second match against Hertfordshire. In the 1896 Minor Counties Championship he would make a further three appearances, and after graduating from Oxford, Raikes played for Norfolk in the 1897 Minor Counties Championship, doing so alongside his brother, Ernest Raikes. His ordination into the Anglican church later in 1897 bought to an end his first spell at Norfolk. His ecclesiastical duties took him to Portsmouth in Hampshire, where he was one of a dozen curates at Portsea during Cosmo Gordon Lang's tenure as vicar at St Mary's Church.
Likely due to being resident in Portsmouth, Raikes played a first-class match for an Oxford University Past and Present against the touring Australians in the town at the United Services Recreation Ground in 1899. The following year, he began playing for Hampshire, who possessed a weakened team, due in large part to the loss of many players to service in the Second Boer War. Debuting at Southampton against Derbyshire in the County Championship, scoring a pair of 40s and taking five wickets in the match. His successful start continued in his second match against Warwickshire, when he scored 60 runs and four wickets, while in his third match against Yorkshire, he top-scored with 77 in Hampshire's second innings. The following season, he made a further five appearances, before making a final appearance against Derbyshire in the 1902 County Championship. In nine first-class matches for Hampshire, he scored 409 runs at an average of 27.26, while with the ball he took 25 wickets at an average of 30.24.
Following the end of his ecclesiastical duties in Portsmouth, Raikes returned to play for Norfolk in the Minor Counties Championship in 1904. At the time of his second spell with Norfolk, Raikes had become a leg break bowler. He captained Norfolk to the Minor Counties Championship title in both 1905 and 1910, and played for the county until 1913, having made an additional 35 minor counties appearances. In total, Raikes scored 3,419 runs for Norfolk from 49 matches, in addition to taking 282 wickets; 57 of these wickets came in Norfolk's triumphant 1910 season. Despite having not played first-class cricket for a decade, Raikes later made a final first-class appearance in 1912 for an England XI against the touring Australians at Norwich. Solid in defence, but also able to score at a faster pace, he scored 816 runs in thirty first-class matches, while taking 71 wickets as a bowler. He was known to field predominantly at mid-off, taking thirty catches during his first-class career.
Raikes seldom played football at club level, but did represent both the Casuals and Corinthian. The majority of his football came while studying at Oxford, with Raikes retiring from playing at the age of 23 in order to concentrate on his ecclesiastical duties. He was side to have a weak kick, but a powerful punch, having been reported on several occasions to have cleared the ball into the opposition half by punching it clear.
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