Amar Fernando( I, 22-) finds Lords a-leaping into a new season
The Wykehamist
200 Years of the Winchester Match
Amar Fernando( I, 22-) finds Lords a-leaping into a new season
Many will not be aware of the College’ s‘ Winchester Match’. Winchester and Eton have held a joint cricket fixture for two centuries, formerly played annually on Wykeham Day before becoming a regular season fixture more recently. This has always been an important and competitive game for both schools. On 13 th April 2026, as Lords XI arrived at Eton on a bright, cold morning to play the first of a two-day match, they commemorated the 200 th-anniversary of the Winchester v Eton Match, the first game having been played in 1826. The team knew well the privilege of the occasion and were up and raring to go from the first warm-up. We learned shortly before the start that captain Stanley Askew( K, 21-) had won the toss and elected to bat first on what appeared a reasonable surface.
Abilash Nanthakumar( C, 25-) and James Kennedy( D, 21-) opened the batting and, after hitting several well-timed boundaries, were both unfortunately caught out inside the first six overs.
We might easily have lost our composure at that stage, but Hamish Peck( F, 25-) and Ayush Shah( E, 22-) played with great intelligence on what proved a deceptively difficult pitch, constructing a partnership of 70 before Ayush fell for a gritty 19. Isaac Hawkins( K, 23-), on his Lords debut, came next, unnerved by neither the occasion nor the Eton attack, and struck the spinners with relish, eying the short square boundary and compiling an impressive 44 off just 48 balls before being run out six short of his half-century, to the evident admiration of Eton players and parents alike. The mainstay of our innings, however, was Hamish, who struck a commanding 87, including eleven fours and a square cut for six that did not endear him to the Eton opening bowler. Some handy hitting at the close by Aryan Vynatheya( G, 25-) carried us to 217 off 40 overs, on which we declared. The heavens then opened during the innings break, drawing a strong first day to a close.
Hamish Peck( F, 25-) batting on the right.
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