team in 1919. The effects of a rib injury limited his bowling, and he achieved little with the bat. Even so, he was chosen to play in the prestigious match against Harrow School, played annually at Lord's in London. In his second innings, he scored 69 runs, the highest individual score of the game, and Eton won the match. His rib injury continued to trouble him in 1920, and caused him such pain that he considered abandoning bowling altogether. The new Eton coach George Hirst persuaded him to continue, and a few weeks later Allen took nine for 19 (nine wickets while conceding 19 runs) in an innings against Winchester. But other than this performance, Allen was ineffective. More successful in 1921, he opened the batting for a time; he also opened the bowling, topping the Eton bowling averages. He had some success at Lord's against Harrow and a particularly fast bowling spell in this match was seen by Hubert Ashton, who was to captain the Cambridge University team the following year—Allen had already been approved for a place at Trinity College, Cambridge beginning later that year. He was chosen to play in the annual matches at Lord's in which two teams representing the best public schoolboys opposed each other, but was forced to withdraw with sunstroke. Towards the end of the 1921 season, Allen was invited to play first-class cricket as an amateur for Middlesex, for whom he qualified by residence. Allen believed that Pelham Warner, who often supported young Middlesex cricketers, encouraged his selection by the club, despite the potential risks to the team's position in the County Championship from playing an inexperienced cricketer. Allen made his first-class debut against Somerset on 21 August 1921 and made one other appearance that season without achieving much in either match. First-class cricketer Cambridge University Allen played for Cambridge in 1922. He was left out of the team's first game; as the university was playing Middlesex, he played for the opposition instead and took six for 13. Around this time, he began to bowl fast for the first time. After success in the following games—including ten wickets in the game against Sussex—Allen was awarded his blue by being selected for the University Match against Oxford at Lord's. In that game, he had match figures of nine for 78 in a comfortable Cambridge victory. This was Cambridge's last game of the season—Allen