{{short description|English cricketer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}} {{Use British English|date=April 2011}} {{Infobox cricketer | name = Harold Miles | image = | country = England | international = | fullname = Harold Philip Miles | nickname = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1899|1|31|df=yes}} | birth_place = Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina | death_date = {{Death date and age|1957|7|21|1899|1|31|df=yes}} | death_place = Newton Tracey, Devon, England | heightft = | heightinch = | batting = Right-handed | bowling = Right-arm off break | role = | family = | club1 = Europeans (India) | year1 = 1937/38 | clubnumber1 = | club2 = Minor Counties | year2 = 1928 | clubnumber2 = | club3 = West of England | year3 = 1927 | clubnumber3 = | club4 = Devon | year4 = 1927–1933 | clubnumber4 = | club5 = Marylebone Cricket Club | year5 = 1926/27 | clubnumber5 = | club6 = Army | year6 = 1920–1931 | clubnumber6 = | columns = 1 | column1 = First-class | matches1 = 23 | runs1 = 613 | bat avg1 = 21.89 | 100s/50s1 = 1/2 | top score1 = 107 | deliveries1 = 2,233 | wickets1 = 38 | bowl avg1 = 31.05 | fivefor1 = 2 | tenfor1 = – | best bowling1 = 5/74 | catches/stumpings1 = 8/– | date = 13 April | year = 2011 | source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/17205.html ESPNcricinfo }}

'''Harold Philip Miles''' (31 January 1899 &ndash; 21 July 1957) was an Argentinian-born English cricketer and British Army officer. Miles was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm off break. He was the elder son of Harold Miles of Odstock,<!-- House name, not the Wiltshire village --> Instow, Devon but was born in Rosario, Santa Fe. He moved to England at some point in his early life, where he was educated at Shrewsbury School, representing the school cricket team.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/14/14114/all_teams.html|title=Teams Harold Miles played for|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=13 April 2011}}</ref> In 1929 he married Miss Ada Margaret Paton, only daughter of Mr. James Paton, J.P., and Mrs. Paton of Newton Cross, Devon.

==Cricket== Miles made his first-class debut for the Army in 1920 against Cambridge University. Years later, in 1926, he toured the country of his birth with the Marylebone Cricket Club, playing four first-class matches against the Argentina national cricket team.<ref name = "FCM">{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/14/14114/First-Class_Matches.html|title=First-Class Matches played by Harold Miles|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=13 April 2011}}</ref> A regular feature in the Army side, he played 12 first-class matches for the team up to 1930, with his final first-class match for the Army coming against Oxford University.<ref name = "FCM"/> In 1927, he joined Devon, who he represented in the Minor Counties Championship on 10 occasions to 1933.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/14/14114/Minor_Counties_Championship_Matches.html|title=Minor Counties Championship Matches played by Harold Miles|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=13 April 2011}}</ref> This paved the way for him to represent the West of England in 1927 against the touring New Zealanders and play for a Minor Counties cricket team against the touring West Indians in 1928. He also represented the Free Foresters and later the Europeans in two fixtures in 1937 against the Cricket Club of India and the Muslims.<ref name = "FCM"/> In total, Miles played 23 first-class matches. In these he scored 613 runs at a batting average of 21.89, scoring two half centuries and a single century which came for the Army against Oxford University in his second first-class match, in which he scored 107 runs before being dismissed by John Bettington.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/9/9818.html|title=Oxford University v Army, 1920|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=13 April 2011}}</ref> With the ball he took 38 wickets at a bowling average of 31.05, with two five wicket hauls and best figures of 5/74 which came for the Army against the touring New Zealanders when they toured in 1927.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/12/12409.html|title=Army v New Zealand, 1927|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=13 April 2011}}</ref>

==Military career== Miles served in the British Army and in 1920 was serving in the King's Shropshire Light Infantry as a second lieutenant. He was mentioned in the London Gazette in 1920 as having been promoted to the rank of lieutenant.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=31789 |date=1920-02-20 |page=2150 }}</ref> Twelve years later he was seconded from King's Shropshire Light Infantry to act as an officer of a company of gentlemen cadets.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=33861 |date=1932-09-06 |page=5965 }}</ref> In 1936 he held the rank of captain, but had relinquished his position as an instructor on 27 August 1936.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=34320 |date=1936-09-04 |page=5724 }}</ref> Later serving in the Second World War, he had by 1944 reached the rank of major. In that same year he was mentioned in dispatches in a supplement to the London Gazette which detailed his promotion to lieutenant colonel.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=36576 |date=1944-06-20 |supp=y |page=2977 }}</ref> Following the war, Miles was placed on a disability list in September 1946.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=37725 |date=1946-09-13 |page=4624 }}</ref> The nature of his disability is not known. By November 1947 his disability had taken its toll on Miles, and he retired from active service with the rank of lieutenant colonel.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=38152 |date=1947-12-19 |page=6073 }}</ref> A decade later he died in Newton Tracey, Devon on 21 July 1957.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=41187 |date=1957-09-27 |page=5687 }}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/17205.html Harold Miles] at ESPNcricinfo *[https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/14/14114/14114.html Harold Miles] at CricketArchive

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miles, Harold}} Category:1899 births Category:1957 deaths Category:Sportspeople from Rosario, Santa Fe Category:Argentine emigrants to England Category:Argentine people of British descent Category:People educated at Shrewsbury School Category:English cricketers Category:British Army cricketers Category:Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Category:Devon cricketers Category:West of England cricketers Category:Minor Counties cricketers Category:Free Foresters cricketers Category:Europeans cricketers Category:Academics of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Category:British Army personnel of World War II Category:King's Shropshire Light Infantry officers Category:English cricketers of 1919 to 1945 Category:20th-century English sportsmen