until his 99th year. He played his first match at Lord’s for Eton v Harrow in 1822 and also appeared for the Gentlemen but the calls of his profession as a barrister restricted his time in big cricket. His opposite number at Oxford University was Charles Wordsworth, nephew of the poet. Jenner and Wordsworth had played against each other in the Eton-Harrow match and Wordsworth knew many players who had gone from Eton, Winchester, Rugby and Harrow to both Universities. Gradually his idea for a Varsity match took shape. “Nothing came of my wish to bring about a match between the Universities in 1826. But in 1827 the proposal was carried into effect. Though an Oxford man, my home was at Cambridge, my father being Master at Trinity, and this gave me opportunities for communicating with men of that University,” Wordsworth reflected 60 years later when he was Bishop of St Andrew’s. He issued the challenge, Jenner accepted and then Wordsworth set about arranging for the first Oxford-Cambridge match to be played at Lord’s. The fixture was scheduled for Whit Monday and Tuesday, June 4-5 1827 but rain restricted the historic match to one day. Jenner drew first blood by bowling Wordsworth for eight and took five wickets, also keeping wicket at the other end. Oxford made 258, an unusually high total given the state of the pitches in those days, R.Price scoring 71. Wordsworth’s left-under-arm off breaks then accounted for seven batsmen at a cost of 25 runs and although Jenner got 47 he was the only man to reach double figures in a score of 92. The match was drawn. Although some of the early Varsity games took place at the end of Whit Week, this remains the only one to be played during the actual holiday. Wordsworth also promoted and rowed in the first University Boat Race at Henley in 1829. The 1827 Whitsuntide fixtures - the first of the experimental games and the initial Varsity match – had far-reaching effects on the future of cricket but it was Lord’s which was to provide the mid-19th century with its showpiece. Early Days 13