[1] Ward was educated privately at Bury St Edmunds and at Jesus College, Cambridge.
[1][2] He played in three matches for Cambridge University in 1868 as "E. E. Harrison" without making much impact, and was then not picked for any first-team games at all in 1869.
[4] That led to his selection for the 1870 University Match against Oxford University, a game that has been widely known as "Cobden's Match" through the feat of the Cambridge bowler Frank Cobden, who took the last three Oxford wickets in three balls – a hat-trick – to win the game for Cambridge by just two runs.
[5] Ward was just as influential in the Cambridge victory, his six wickets for 29 in the Oxford second innings, in 32 four-ball overs, being the best bowling performance of his first-class cricket career.
[3] He had a highly itinerant clerical career, serving parishes in Sussex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Northumberland, Yorkshire and Staffordshire, retiring in 1931.