North v. South

The North of England and South of England teams appeared in first-class cricket between the 1836 and 1961 seasons, most often in matches against each other but also individually in games against touring teams, MCC and others.

Until international cricket became firmly established towards the end of the 19th century, the North v. South match was one of the major fixtures in the cricketing calendar along with Gentlemen v Players. Indeed it was really "the" major fixture because whereas the Gentlemen teams were often very weak, North v. South could potentially showcase the best 22 players in the country.

In all, the North played against the South 155 times in first-class matches.

Early matches – 1836 to 1838

The [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/0/556.html inaugural North v. South fixture] was held at Lord’s on 11 & 12 July 1836. The North won by 6 wickets.

The first four games took place between 1836 and 1838 but then the fixture disappeared for eleven years until it was resurrected in the 1849 season. There were two matches in 1836 and one each in 1837 and 1838.

One of the features of the fixture right from the start was that players could play for either team depending on current residency; or if they were "borderline", thus a player in the Midlands might well change sides often. In the first four games alone, no less than six players represented both sides.

The total appearances by players in the 1836 to 1838 matches were:
* 4 – Ned Wenman, Fuller Pilch, George Jarvis, George Millyard, James Cobbett, Sam Redgate, Thomas Barker, Tom Marsden
* 3 – Emmanuel Vincent, William Lillywhite, James Dearman, James Taylor, Thomas Beagley, Thomas Box, William Clifford, William Garrat
* 2 – Alfred Mynn, Bartholomew Good, Charles Creswell, Francis Fenner, George Rothera, Jem Broadbridge, Richard Mills, Tom Adams, William Hillyer
* 1 – Arthur Rich, Daniel Hayward, Edward Grimston, Frederick Ponsonby, Henry Hall, John Bayley, John Gibson, Joe Guy, John Wenman, Thomas Heath, William Clarke, William Dorrinton, William Ward, Will Caldecourt

An annual event

From 1849, the match became virtually an annual fixture and was often contested two or three times in the same season.

United Elevens

During the 1870s the fixture received competition from equivalent teams of the All-England Eleven type: these being the professionally organised touring sides called the United North of England Eleven and the United South of England Eleven. There were 12 games involving the United sides including the last in 1880 when the United South played against the official North!

20th century

The fixture's popularity waned as international cricket expanded and it was played less frequently in the 20th century until it was finally ended with the advent of limited overs cricket, which left no space for it in an already crowded calendar. Ironically, the last North v. South contest to date took place in the 1971 season, when there was a [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/105/105999.html 50 over match] in Nottingham, which the South won by 9 runs.

References

External sources

* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/cgi-bin/scorecard_oracle_reveals_results.cgi CricketArchive – list of fixtures]

Further reading

* Rowland Bowen, "Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development", Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970
* Arthur Haygarth, "Scores & Biographies, Volume 2 (1827-1840)", Lillywhite, 1862