North v South

The North of England and South of England cricket teams appeared in matches between the 1836 and 1961 seasons, most often playing against each other but also individually in games against touring teams, Marylebone Cricket Club (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, North v South was really the major fixture because it could potentially showcase the best 22 players in the country, whereas Gentlemen teams in the other match were often very weak.

In all, there were 155 North v South matches. The South won 62; the North won 55; 37 were drawn, and one match in 1889 was abandoned.

Early matches – 1836 to 1838 Cricket in the 18th century had been predominantly a southern game, played especially in London and the southeastern counties. It had spread to the northern counties by the 1770s and noted clubs were formed at Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield which eventually became the basis of county cricket in the north. In the 1820s, a number of northern players such as Sam Redgate, Tom Marsden, Thomas Barker and James Dearman established reputations which made cricket promoters aware of commercial possibilities in a North v South fixture.

The inaugural North v South match was held at Lord's Cricket Ground on 11 and 12 July 1836 and the North won by 6 wickets to confirm their capability and potential. Barker took ten wickets in the match and scored the most runs with 25 and 12 not out. The North's victory caused a sensation and a return match was quickly organised. This took place at Barker's Ground in Leicester and the South won by 218 runs. Redgate for the North and William Lillywhite for the South took twelve and eleven wickets in the match respectively, but the outstanding performance was an innings of 125 not out by Alfred Mynn despite a serious leg injury sustained in practice. His condition worsened as the match went on and he had to withdraw. With insufficient medical resources locally, Mynn was lifted onto the roof of a stagecoach and secured there to be taken to London, where he was admitted to St Bartholomew's Hospital. The surgeon considered amputation but decided against it and Mynn was able to resume his cricket career in July 1838. Mynn's injury raised the issue of leg guards which were generally frowned upon at the time, but the legalisation of roundarm bowling in 1835 meant that bowling was much faster than formerly and, gradually, pads were introduced.

The next two North v South games took place in 1837 and 1838 and were won convincingly by the South. Interest faded and the fixture disappeared for eleven years until it was resurrected in the 1849 season. In the meantime (1840–48), the North played annual matches against Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). A feature of North v South from the beginning was that players could represent either team depending on current residency or being "borderline", thus a player living 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. It was played four times in 1878. The revival was at Lord's on 16 and 17 July 1849 when the North won by 243 runs after William Clarke and John Wisden dismissed the South for 48 and 67.

There was a change to the fixture's naming convention between 1866 and 1868 when the River Thames became the dividing line and the teams were called North of the Thames and South of the Thames. This effectively restricted the South's catchment to the counties of Hampshire, Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

The match at Lord's on 27–29 May 1889 had to be abandoned without a ball being bowled, due to bad weather. Cricket magazine pointed out that three Lord's fixtures were abandoned during that month. Despite the loss of that match, the fixture was played another five times in 1889 at The Oval, Chichester, Old Trafford, Scarborough and Hastings. North v South continued annually through to 1897 but was not held in either 1898 or 1899. It was revived in September 1900 when two matches were played, both at southern venues.

United Elevens During the 1870s the fixture received competition in the shape of matches between the equivalent professional touring teams, the United North of England Eleven and the United South of England Eleven. There were 11 games involving the United sides and then one (the last) in 1880 when the United South played against the official North. Other variations featured teams called Gentlemen of the North, Gentlemen of the South, Players of the North and Players of the South who played against each other on several occasions.

20th century The fixture's popularity waned as international cricket expanded and it was played less frequently in the 20th century. Following the two games in September 1900, there were only eight instances between then and September 1920, all of them in the 1904 to 1908 period. Between the two world wars, there were eleven matches. The fixture was resurrected in 1946 after the end of the Second World War and, except for 1953, was played annually, sometimes more than once a season, through to 1958. Then there was a three-year hiatus until the final match took place 6 to 8 September 1961 at Stanley Park, Blackpool, the South winning by two wickets. The fixture was finally ended by the advent of limited overs cricket, which left no space for it in an already crowded calendar.

Revival The last North v South contest of the 20th century was a one-day 50 over match at Trent Bridge in the 1971 season, which the South won by 9 runs. There was a temporary revival in March 2017 when a three-match series, under one-day 50 overs rules, was staged in the United Arab Emirates. In March 2018, a similar series was played in Barbados as part of the English county cricket pre-season schedule.

List of North v South matches Scorecards of all these matches from 1836 to 1961 are held on the CricketArchive database. List of North v South matches#DateVenueWinnersWinning marginRef 1 11 July 1836 Lord's, St John's Wood, LondonNorth 6 wickets scorecard 2 22 August 1836 Barker's Ground, LeicesterSouth 218 runs scorecard 3 10 July 1837 Lord'sSouth 5 wickets scorecard 4 25 June 1838 Lord'sSouth 8 wickets scorecard 5 16 July 1849 Lord'sNorth 243 runs scorecard 6 30 August 1849 Parr and Wisden's Ground, Leamington SpaNorth 9 wickets scorecard 7 15 July 1850 Lord'sNorthinnings and 19 runs scorecard 8 8 August 1850 Leamington SpaNorthinnings and 118 runs scorecard 9 3 July 1851 The Oval, Kennington, LondonNorth 60 runs scorecard 10 14 July 1851 Lord'sNorth 12 runs scorecard 11 1 July 1852 The OvalNorthinnings and 8 runs scorecard 12 7 July 1853 The OvalSouth 70 runs scorecard 13 27 July 1854 Higher Common Ground, Tunbridge WellsSouth 2 wickets scorecard 14 28 May 1855 Lord'sNorth 18 runs scorecard 15 9 August 1855 Tunbridge WellsSouthinnings and 39 runs scorecard 16 30 June 1856 Lord'sSouth 6 wickets scorecard 17 7 August 1856 Broughton Cricket Club Ground, SalfordDrawn scorecard 18 20 July 1857 Lord'sSouth 14 runs scorecard 19 13 August 1857 Tunbridge WellsNorth 8 wickets scorecard 20 7 September 1857 Trent Bridge, NottinghamDrawn scorecard 21 12 July 1858 Lord'sNorth 4 wickets scorecard 22 27 June 1859 Lord'sSouth 10 wickets scorecard 23 15 August 1859 St Lawrence Ground, CanterburyNorth 90 runs scorecard 24 30 August 1860 Merefield Ground, RochdaleDrawn scorecard 25 17 September 1860 London Road, SleafordNorth 53 runs scorecard 26 15 July 1861 Lord'sSouth 4 wickets scorecard 27 5 September 1861 Aston Park, Aston, BirminghamSouth 43 runs scorecard 28 29 May 1862 Old Trafford, ManchesterDrawn scorecard 29 21 July 1862 Lord'sNorthinnings and 10 runs scorecard 30 21 May 1863 Old TraffordNorth 10 wickets scorecard 31 20 July 1863 Lord'sNorth 29 runs scorecard 32 27 August 1863 Wavertree Road Ground, LiverpoolNorth 84 runs scorecard 33 27 June 1864 SleafordDrawn scorecard 34 11 August 1864 Old TraffordNorth 9 wickets scorecard 35 5 September 1864 Cattle Market Ground, IslingtonSouthinnings and 29 runs scorecard 36 12 June 1865 Lord'sSouth 52 runs scorecard 37 7 August 1865 CanterburySouth 27 runs scorecard 38 2 July 1866 Lord'sSouthinnings and 43 runs scorecard 39 3 June 1869 The OvalNorth 9 wickets scorecard 40 26 July 1869 Bramall Lane, SheffieldSouth 66 runs scorecard 41 9 August 1869 CanterburySouth 8 wickets scorecard 42 6 June 1870 Lord'sNorth 6 wickets scorecard 43 8 August 1870 CanterburyDrawn scorecard 44 5 September 1870 Dewsbury and Savile Ground, DewsburyNorthinnings and 154 runs scorecard 45 29 May 1871 Lord'sSouthinnings and 49 runs scorecard 46 31 July 1871 The OvalDrawn scorecard 47 7 August 1871 CanterburySouth 100 runs scorecard 48 29 April 1872 Liverpool WavertreeSouthinnings and 20 runs scorecard 49 16 May 1872 Prince's Cricket Ground, Chelsea, LondonDrawn scorecard 50 20 May 1872 Lord'sSouth 52 runs scorecard 51 25 July 1872 The OvalSouth 8 wickets scorecard 52 5 August 1872 CanterburyNorthinnings and 46 runs scorecard 53 15 May 1873 Prince'sDrawn scorecard 54 2 June 1873 Lord'sNorth 84 runs scorecard 55 24 July 1873 The OvalSouthinnings and 58 runs scorecard 56 4 August 1873 CanterburySouth 7 wickets scorecard 57 25 May 1874 Lord'sSouth 8 wickets scorecard 58 4 June 1874 Prince'sNorth 3 runs scorecard 59 17 May 1875 Lord'sSouth 10 wickets scorecard 60 27 May 1875 Prince'sSouth 5 wickets scorecard 61 28 June 1875 Trent BridgeDrawn scorecard 62 15 July 1875 Fartown Ground, HuddersfieldDrawn scorecard 63 19 August 1875 Tunbridge WellsNorthinnings and 58 runs scorecard 64 2 September 1875 Argyle Street, Kingston upon HullSouth 23 runs scorecard 65 6 September 1875 Tyler's Ground, LoughboroughNorth 125 runs scorecard 66 1 June 1876 Prince'sSouth 153 runs scorecard 67 5 June 1876 Lord'sSouth 85 runs scorecard 68 17 July 1876 Trent BridgeSouth 8 wickets scorecard 69 20 July 1876 The OvalDrawn scorecard 70 7 September 1876 Milnrow Road, RochdaleDrawn scorecard 71 21 May 1877 Lord'sSouth 3 wickets scorecard 72 31 May 1877 Prince'sSouthinnings and 162 runs scorecard 73 21 June 1877 The OvalSouth 1 wicket scorecard 74 23 July 1877 Argyle Street, HullNorthinnings and 14 runs scorecard 75 6 June 1878 Prince'sDrawn scorecard 76 10 June 1878 Lord'sNorth 3 wickets scorecard 77 27 June 1878 Trent BridgeSouth 10 wickets scorecard 78 19 September 1878 The OvalNorthinnings and 123 runs scorecard 79 2 June 1879 Lord'sNorth 49 runs scorecard 80 17 July 1879 The OvalNorth 9 wickets scorecard 81 14 July 1881 The OvalNorthinnings and 91 runs scorecard 82 14 May 1883 Lord'sNorth 170 runs scorecard 83 21 June 1883 The OvalNorth 22 runs scorecard 84 30 August 1883 Tunbridge WellsNorthinnings and 38 runs scorecard 85 2 June 1884 Lord'sSouth 66 runs scorecard 86 25 May 1885 Lord'sSouth 9 wickets scorecard 87 25 June 1885 The OvalNorth 8 wickets scorecard 88 9 July 1885 Old TraffordDrawn scorecard 89 14 June 1886 Lord'sNorth 9 wickets scorecard 90 30 May 1887 Lord'sNorth 6 wickets scorecard 91 5 September 1887 North Marine Road, Scarborough, North YorkshireDrawn scorecard 92 8 September 1887 Central Recreation Ground, HastingsNorth 27 runs scorecard 93 13 September 1888 HastingsSouth 47 runs scorecard 94 16 May 1889 The OvalNorthinnings and 25 runs scorecard 95 27 May 1889 Lord'sAbandoned scorecard 96 3 June 1889 Priory Park, ChichesterSouth 8 wickets scorecard 97 11 July 1889 Old TraffordDrawn scorecard 98 5 September 1889 ScarboroughDrawn scorecard 99 12 September 1889 HastingsNorth 152 runs scorecard 100 19 May 1890 Lord'sSouth 135 runs scorecard 101 11 September 1890 HastingsSouth 9 runs scorecard 102 11 May 1891 Lord'sSouth 34 runs scorecard 103 29 June 1891 Edgbaston, BirminghamDrawn scorecard 104 31 August 1891 ScarboroughSouth 6 runs scorecard 105 10 September 1891 HastingsDrawn scorecard 106 30 June 1892 EdgbastonNorth 6 wickets scorecard 107 8 September 1892 HastingsSouthinnings and 10 runs scorecard 108 11 September 1893 HastingsNorth 25 runs scorecard 109 2 August 1894 The OvalDrawn scorecard 110 30 August 1894 ScarboroughDrawn scorecard 111 6 September 1894 HastingsDrawn scorecard 112 2 September 1895 ScarboroughNorth 8 wickets scorecard 113 5 September 1895 HastingsSouth 109 runs scorecard 114 7 September 1896 HastingsSouth 5 wickets scorecard 115 2 September 1897 ScarboroughDrawn scorecard 116 9 September 1897 HastingsNorth 8 wickets scorecard 117 6 September 1900 HastingsDrawn scorecard 118 13 September 1900 Lord'sDrawn scorecard 119 5 September 1904 ScarboroughDrawn scorecard 120 8 September 1904 HastingsNorth 10 wickets scorecard 121 28 August 1905 Whitegate Park, BlackpoolNorth 8 wickets scorecard 122 4 September 1905 ScarboroughDrawn scorecard 123 3 September 1906 ScarboroughNorthinnings and 71 runs scorecard 124 5 September 1907 ScarboroughNorth 7 wickets scorecard 125 7 September 1908 HastingsSouth 5 wickets scorecard 126 10 September 1908 The OvalSouthinnings and 54 runs scorecard 127 2 September 1920 HastingsSouth 52 runs scorecard 128 20 September 1922 The Saffrons, EastbourneNorth 7 wickets scorecard 129 23 June 1923 Old TraffordSouth 38 runs scorecard 130 9 September 1925 Stanley Park, BlackpoolSouth 96 runs scorecard 131 25 June 1927 (Test Trial) Bramall LaneDrawn scorecard 132 3 September 1927 Cheriton Road, FolkestoneDrawn scorecard 133 8 September 1928 Dean Park Cricket Ground, BournemouthSouth 4 wickets scorecard 134 18 June 1932 Old TraffordDrawn scorecard 135 13 June 1936 Lord'sDrawn scorecard 136 22 May 1937 Lord'sSouth 6 wickets scorecard 137 11 September 1946 ScarboroughNorth 130 runs scorecard 138 27 August 1947 St George's Road, HarrogateNorth 86 runs scorecard 139 3 September 1947 Leyland Motors Ground, Kingston upon ThamesSouth 4 wickets scorecard 140 6 September 1947 ScarboroughDrawn scorecard 141 4 September 1948 HastingsSouth 5 wickets scorecard 142 4 September 1948 Leyland Motors Ground, Kingston upon ThamesDrawn scorecard 143 1 June 1949 (Test trial) EdgbastonDrawn scorecard 144 3 September 1949 ScarboroughDrawn scorecard 145 7 September 1949 Hawker's Sports Ground, Kingston upon ThamesNorth 4 wickets scorecard 146 2 September 1950 Hawker's Sports Ground, Kingston upon ThamesNorth 8 wickets scorecard 147 6 September 1950 ScarboroughSouth 3 wickets scorecard 148 1 September 1951 Hawker's Sports Ground, Kingston upon ThamesNorth 4 wickets scorecard 149 6 September 1952 Hawker's Sports Ground, Kingston upon ThamesSouthinnings and 79 runs scorecard 150 4 September 1954 Recreation Ground, TorquaySouth 61 runs scorecard 151 3 September 1955 TorquaySouth 109 runs scorecard 152 1 September 1956 TorquayDrawn scorecard 153 7 September 1957 TorquaySouth 1 wicket scorecard 154 6 September 1958 TorquaySouth 38 runs scorecard 155 6 September 1961 Stanley Park, BlackpoolSouth 2 wickets scorecard