Tiger Wykes

Tiger Wykes played 30 matches for his native county, Essex, and won a Blue at Cambridge in 1928. An opening or middle-order left-handed bat, he had shown distinct promise at Oundle, where in 1923 he was the soundest batsman of a good side, scoring 110, 79 not out and 80 in consecutive innings towards an aggregate of 489 and an average of 54.30. Next year, despite slightly inferior figures, he was "thought to be on an equal to any batsman Oundle has turned out. His century against Pembroke was a grand innings." In 1925 he made his first-class debut for Essex against Leicestershire at Southend, at the tail-end of the season, and a year later he played just once for Cambridge in his quest for a Blue. This turned out to be an "ordeal by fire", for he encountered the young Larwood at his fastest. In 1927 he made his two centuries - 145 not out at Fenner's against the Army and 162 for Essex against Kent at Leyton, "batting finely for more than four hours and a half" - but he won his Blue in 1928 as much for his fielding as his batting, having dropped down the order to No. 9. Still, he made two useful contributions at Lord's, with 27 and 19 not out. Wykes spent his working life teaching at Eton, eventually becoming a housemaster, and until 1936 he found time to play one or two matches a year for Essex after the end of term. In all he made 1,277 runs for an average of 23.64.
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack