George Lucas Rayner (15 October 1863 – 20 February 1915) was a New Zealand

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er. He played in seven

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

matches for

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

and

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

between the 1884–85 and 1889–90 seasons. Rayner was born at

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

in England in 1863. He made his representative debut for Canterbury during the 1884–85 season. His highest first-class score was 49

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

, the highest score of the match, batting ninth in the order for Canterbury when they defeated Otago by 10 wickets in February 1887. A year later, playing for Otago, he made 11 and 33, the second-highest score of the match, when Otago beat Canterbury by 103 runs. Rayner married Lizzie Lane in Ashburton in December 1892. They lived in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, where he worked as a bootmaker. In 1908 he became the publican of the Shades Hotel in Hereford Street, Christchurch. He died in Christchurch in February 1915, aged 51 after suffering from

pulmonary tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ...

.McCarron A (2010) ''New Zealand Cricketers 1863/64–2010'', p. 110. Cardiff: The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians.
Available online
at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 5 June 2023.) His wife died in November 1941, survived by their daughter.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rayner, George 1863 births 1915 deaths New Zealand cricketers Canterbury cricketers Otago cricketers Cricketers from Northampton English emigrants to New Zealand 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in New Zealand