The Eton v Harrow

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 str ...

match is an annual match between public school rivals

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

and Harrow School. It is one of the longest-running annual sporting fixtures in the world and is the last annual school cricket match still to be played at Lord's. In February 2022, the MCC announced that from 2023 onwards the fixture would no longer be held at the ground. It would be replaced by the finals of boys’ and girls’ schools competitions, as stated by MCC to be more inclusive. However in September, 2022, following opposition from a section of its membership, the club decided that the match would be held at Lord's in 2023 to allow time for further consultation.

Early years

Cricket was being played by teams at English public schools by the time of the English Commonwealth. Horace Walpole entered Eton in 1726, and later wrote that playing cricket was a common occurrence at the school.

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

played matches against Eton at

Tothill Fields Tothill Fields was an area of Westminster in the county of Middlesex that lay south of St James's Park on the north bank of the river Thames. One of its main features was the Tothill Fields Bridewell penitentiary. Between 1735 and 1752, it was t ...

in the 1790s. By the early 19th century, cricket was well established in English public and

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

s. There is some evidence for earlier matches between Eton and Harrow School, but teams from the schools definitely played a cricket match at

Lord's Old Ground Lord's Old Ground was a cricket venue in London that was established by Thomas Lord in 1787. It was used mainly by Marylebone Cricket Club for major matches until 1810, after which a dispute about rent caused Lord to relocate. Matches The first ...

in 1805, probably organised by the boys. They moved to Lord's Cricket Ground for a rematch in 1818, and played again in 1822. From 1822, the match has been an annual event, with the exception of 1829–1831 and 1856. During the two World Wars it was relocated away from Lord's. A triangular tournament at Lord's also involving Winchester – Public Schools Week – ran until 1854; it was emulated by matches of other schools particularly

Charterhouse Charterhouse may refer to: * Charterhouse (monastery), of the Carthusian religious order Charterhouse may also refer to: Places * The Charterhouse, Coventry, a former monastery * Charterhouse School, an English public school in Surrey Londo ...

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

and

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

. The schools were early adopters of cricket caps: Eton (light blue) and Winchester (blue) in 1851, and Harrow (striped) in 1852, followed by Cambridge (1861) and Oxford (1863). The first Eton–Harrow match in 1805 preceded by one year the first

Gentlemen v Players Gentlemen v Players was a long-running series of English first-class cricket matches. Two matches were played in 1806, but the fixture was not played again until 1819. It became an annual event, usually played at least twice each season, exc ...

in 1806.

Charles Wordsworth Charles Wordsworth (22 August 1806 – 5 December 1892) was Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane in Scotland. He was a classical scholar, and taught at public schools in England and Scotland. He was a rower, cricketer and athlete and he ...

, nephew of

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

, played for Harrow in the four matches in 1822 to 1825, and arranged the first

University Match The University Match in a cricketing context is generally understood to refer to the annual fixture between Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club. From 2001, as part of the reorganisation of first-class cricket, ...

at Lord's in 1827, two years before the first

Boat Race Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...

. Many Eton and Harrow players went on to win

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

s at

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

. Eton v Harrow was joined by the University Match and Gentlemen v Players as the three key features in the England cricket season.

Heyday

In its heyday, in the late 19th century and early 20th century, "the School's day" was one of the highlights of the London "

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

", alongside Henley Royal Regatta and Royal Ascot. The number of spectators necessitated the first introduction of viewing stands and a boundary rope at Lord's in 1866. The game made national newspaper headlines, and was attended by schoolboys large and small, their elder brothers and fathers, accompanied by their ladies and other members of London society. The match in 1914 was attended by over 38,000 people during its two days. Even in 2008, the match attracted a larger crowd than any of

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

's first-class matches. The influence of the Eton v Harrow match waned as the dominance of amateurs in cricket was replaced by increasing professionalism, noticeably after the First World War and to an even greater extent after the Second. It was not just Eton and Harrow that played at Lord's. There was a group of ten schools called 'The Lord's Schools' which had fixtures each season. These were

, Harrow School,

Tonbridge School (God Giveth the Increase) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = , president = , head_label ...

, Marlborough College,

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...

Cheltenham College ("Work Conquers All") , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent School Day and Boarding School , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head , head = Nicola Hugget ...

The Oratory School The Oratory School () is an HMC Co-educational Independent school (United Kingdom), independent Roman Catholic day and boarding school for pupils aged 11–18 located in Woodcote, north-west of Reading, Berkshire, Reading. Founded in 1859 by S ...

Haileybury College Haileybury may refer to: Australia * Haileybury (Melbourne), a school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ** Haileybury Rendall School, an offshoot in Berrimah, North Territory, Australia China * Haileybury International School, an internatio ...

Clifton College ''The spirit nourishes within'' , established = 160 years ago , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent boarding and day school , religion = Christian , president = , head_label = Head of College , hea ...

and

Beaumont College Beaumont College was between 1861 and 1967 a public school in Old Windsor in Berkshire. Founded and run by the Society of Jesus, it offered a Roman Catholic public school education in rural surroundings, while lying, like the neighbouring Eto ...

(now closed).

Players

Many famous individuals and famous cricketers have played in the match.

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...

played for Harrow in the 1805 match, Field Marshal

Earl Alexander of Tunis Earl Alexander of Tunis is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 14 March 1952 for the prominent military commander Field Marshal Harold Alexander, 1st Viscount Alexander of Tunis. He had already been created Viscou ...

for Harrow in Fowler's match in 1910, Bolo Whistler for Harrow in 1916, Alec Douglas-Home for Eton in 1921 and 1922,

Terence Rattigan Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan (10 June 191130 November 1977) was a British dramatist and screenwriter. He was one of England's most popular mid-20th-century dramatists. His plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background.Geoffrey Wan ...

for Harrow in 1929 and

Henry Blofeld Henry Calthorpe Blofeld, OBE (born 23 September 1939) nicknamed Blowers by Brian Johnston, is an English retired sports journalist, broadcaster and amateur ornithologist best known as a cricket commentator for ''Test Match Special'' on BBC Ra ...

for Eton in 1955. Early prominent cricketers who played in the Eton v Harrow match include E. H. Budd, John Kirwan and

Herbert Jenner __NOTOC__ Herbert Jenner (23 February 1806 – 30 July 1904) was an English barrister. As an amateur cricketer he played first-class cricket from 1825 to 1838. He changed his name to Herbert Jenner-Fust in 1864.Edward Grimston, Charles Harenc and

(Harrow). Between the 1870s and the 1890s, there were the Studd brothers, Bernard Bosanquet,

Ivo Bligh Ivo is a masculine given name, in use in various European languages. The name used in western European languages originates as a Normannic name recorded since the High Middle Ages, and the French name Yves is a variant of it. The unrelated So ...

, Martin Bladen (who later became Lord Hawke) and George Harris (who later became Lord Harris) (Eton); and A. N. Hornby,

Archie MacLaren Archibald Campbell MacLaren (1 December 1871 – 17 November 1944) was an English cricketer who captained the England cricket team at various times between 1898 and 1909. A right-handed batsman, he played 35 Test matches for England, as ...

and Stanley Jackson (Harrow). Lionel Tennyson (later 3rd Baron Tennyson) played for Eton before the First World War, and

Gubby Allen Sir George Oswald Browning "Gubby" Allen CBE (31 July 190229 November 1989) was a cricketer who captained England in eleven Test matches. In first-class matches, he played for Middlesex and Cambridge University. A fast bowler and hard-hittin ...

just afterwards. Around this time the prominent future amateurs for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

included Anthony Jackson, Geoffrey Jackson,

Guy Jackson Guy Rolf Jackson (23 June 1896 – 21 February 1966) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Derbyshire between 1919 and 1936, being captain for nine years. Jackson was born at Ankerbold, Tupton, Derbyshire, the son of Bri ...

, Wilfred Hill-Wood and Basil Hill-Wood. Other players who were later first-class cricketers were not selected for their school, including Charles Lyttelton (later 10th Viscount Cobham), Wykeham Cornwallis (later 2nd Baron Cornwallis), Nigel Haig and Denis Hill-Wood. The match has included fifteen players from Eton and six from Harrow who later played for the

England cricket team The England cricket team represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club (the MCC) since 1903. Engl ...

, most recently Nick Compton (Harrow) in Tests and Alex Loudon (Eton) in ODIs. In recent years, few players have gone on to become professionals in

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 officia ...

, exceptions being Compton, Gary Ballance and

Sam Northeast Sam Alexander Northeast (born 16 October 1989) is an English professional cricketer who plays for Glamorgan County Cricket Club. He is a right-handed batsman. Northeast made his senior debut in 2007 and until 2017 played for Kent County Cricke ...

from Harrow, and Jamie Bruce and Loudon from Eton. Amongst the cricketers who became the coach at Eton or Harrow after their playing days, one was

George Hirst George Herbert Hirst (7 September 1871 – 10 May 1954) was a professional English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 1891 and 1921, with a further appearance in 1929. One of the best all-r ...

, who coached at Eton for 18 years from 1921.

Results and records

*Excluding fixtures during the First and Second World Wars, there have been 182 matches in the series from 1805 to 2021, of which Eton have won 60 and Harrow have won 54, with 68 matches drawn. *During the World Wars, matches were played at the two schools' own grounds rather than at Lord's. From 1915 to 1918, two matches were played each year, one at Harrow and one at Eton. From 1940 to 1945, one match was played each year, with the venue alternating. Of those ten matches, Eton won eight and Harrow one, and one was drawn. In 1970, Lord's was reserved for a Gillette Cup match, so the Eton–Harrow match was played at Harrow. *The match was traditionally a two-day, two-innings affair, but in 1982 reduced to one day and one innings a side. It moved to a

limited overs Limited overs cricket, also known as one-day cricket or white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed in one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty ...

format in 1999, with a second longer match played away from Lord's. It celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2005. *The highest innings total is 502 scored by Eton in 1923. Harrow reached 388 in 1900. *The lowest innings total is Harrow's 24 in 1824. Eton were dismissed for 35 in 1855. *The highest individual score is 183, scored by D. C. Boles for Eton in 1904. G. Wilson scored 173 for Harrow in 1913. * M. C. Bird is the only player to have made a hundred in each innings, scoring 100* and 131 for Harrow in 1907. * H. W. Studd recorded bowling figures of 14 for 99 for Eton in 1888. E. W. Blore took 15 wickets in 1847, and 14 in 1845, but runs conceded were not recorded. *The teams in all of the matches have been limited to current pupils, except the match in 1857 which included some former pupils aged less than 20. *The matches in 1997, 1999 and 2001 were abandoned without a ball being bowled. *Harrow's win in 2000 was its first victory since 1975. Harrow also went without a win from 1908 to 1939: in 27 games, Eton won 12 times and 15 matches were drawn. *In 2010, Harrow won by five wickets. *Eton's victory in 2011 was their first for eight years. *In 2012, Harrow scored their winning 274th run on the first ball of the 55th over, winning largely on the strength of L. Bose's 118 runs and H. W. D. Whitrow's 80 not out off 66 balls. *In 2013, Eton won by 5 wickets. *In 2014, Harrow won by 63 runs. *In 2015, Eton won by 6 wickets. *In 2016, the match ended in a draw. *In 2017, Harrow won by 6 wickets. *In 2018, Eton won by 114 runs. *In 2019, Harrow won by 4 wickets. *In 2020, the match was cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic *In 2021, Eton won by 4 wickets.

References

Cricket at EtonThe oldest rivals of all
BBC, 25 May 2002

Cricinfo, 9 April 2005
The oldest fixture of them all
Cricinfo, 18 June 2005

External links

Bloomsbury – the Wisden Archive
Eton v Harrow {{DEFAULTSORT:Eton V Harrow Schools cricket matches Harrow School Eton College English cricket in the 19th century English cricket in the 20th century Student cricket in the United Kingdom Annual sporting events in the United Kingdom Annual events in London Lord's Cricket in London