It’s not unreasonable to associate cricket with English elitism: the posh English schools of the 19th century played a significant role in the expansion of the game and British imperialism. Elite school cricket was and still is a major part of the Establishment.
The longest continually contested game in any sport is the annual Eton v Harrow cricket match, which began in 1805 and had a slot at Lord’s every year until 2022. There is a record of Westminster playing Charterhouse in 1794, and Winchester has played Eton and Harrow since 1825. These games have always been more than sport. The historian J.A. Mangan has documented the relationship between games such as cricket, the Victorian public school and its role in imperialism. “Cricket was the pre-eminent instrument of moral training,” he wrote.
