Colin Cowdrey
Cowdrey won a Heath Harrison Exhibition award and a place at Brasenose College at Oxford University to study geography in the autumn of 1951. He played for the Oxford University Cricket Club in 1952 and 1953 at the start of the season and the rest of the summer for Kent. He made 50 and 57 for the Gentlemen vs the 1953 Australians at Lords. In 1954 he captained Oxford University and was a surprise choice for the MCC tour of Australia, replacing Willie Watson. Len Hutton later told him that his selection was a gamble, but it was thought that his technique would be good on the hard Australian wickets. At 21, Cowdrey was the youngest man in the side and the schoolboy photographs used in the brochures made him appear younger. He had yet to make a century in the County Championship, go on tour or play a Test, though he was made twelfth man for the Fourth Test against Pakistan and fielded for 20 minutes, but was so nervous he could barely watch.
Michael England
Born at Midgham, Berkshire, England, was educated at Eton College, where he was in the Eton XI in 1936 and 1937. It was in 1936 that he made his debut for Berkshire in the Minor Counties Championship against Hertfordshire, though his schooling commitments limited him to one appearance each in 1936 and 1937. He later attended Magdalen College, Oxford, while studying there he made his first-class debut for Oxford University Cricket Club against Leicestershire in 1938. In this match, he scored 11 runs in Oxford University's first-innings, before being dismissed by William Flamson, while in their second-innings he wasn't required to bat. In Leicestershire's first-innings, he took 2 catches behind the stumps, with the match ending in a draw. He made a second first-class appearance for the university the following season against the Minor Counties. He scored 5 runs in Oxford University's first-innings, before being dismissed by Francis Appleyard, while in their second-innings he scored 43 not out. He also took a further two catches behind the stumps, with the match ending in a Minor Counties victory by 4 wickets. His appearances in the team were limited due to the number of wicket-keepers that were used by Oxford University during this time, such as Robin Whetherly, Hector Jelf, Peter Blagg and Manning Clark.