Harrow School, situated on the Harrow Hill, some 15 km north-west of central London, has a long-standing connection with India. The country's first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (1905-1907) and Britain's former Premier Winston Churchill were two of the school's prominent former pupils. A number of Indian princes (notably Jaipur, Burdwan, Hyderabad and Cooch Behar) joined other pupils of royal blood at the Harrow. Nehru, it is recalled, made appearances on the sports field, playing football and cricket, running the mile, half-mile and cross-country steeplechase, going to the gym and ice rink, and taking up shooting.

The present team from the Harrow is coached by Ramesh Sethi, who represented East Africa in the inaugural World Cup in England in 1975. The team members are in the 17-18 age group and are confident that the tour would provide ample opportunities to them to know the country better and build ties between their school and its counterparts in India.

Simon Halliday (in charge of cricket) and Dale Vargas (Second Master) of Harrow School, who are accompanying the 17-member team, were confident that the boys would return richer in experience after playing matches in India. ``The different playing conditions and the varying weather in different parts of this vast country should be a new experience for the boys,'' they said.

``We have heard and read so much about Nehru. Now we have come to see his country and to know the people. Cricket is a way by which we can do it,'' Vargas said, adding that ``the tour would bind the people of the two emotionally-connected countries.''

The team members are also scheduled to visit the Red Fort and the Taj before leaving for Jaipur and Udaipur.

In Mumbai, the team will play games against CCI and Bombay Gymkhana before returning home in the first week of January.

On Monday, Harrow School played a match against National Stadium Coaching Centre (NSCC) at the Stadium ground. The Delhi team won by a huge margin of 109 runs. An all-round performance by Maninder Bola (120: 11x4, 9x6, 105 and 4 for 23) and an equally vital role by Kuldeep Rawat (78 and 2 for 19) and their 145-run stand for the second wicket were the highlights of the match.

Brief Scores: NSCC: 300 for 8 in 41 overs (Maninder Bola 120, Kuldeep Rawat 78, Prateek Kapoor 34, Alexander Andjel 3 for 60, Christopher Cooke-Hurle 2 for 35).

Harrow School: 191 all out in 40.4 overs (Alexander Andjel 35, Harry Jack 39, Maninder Bola 4 for 23, Kuldeep Rawat 2 for 19).