Harry Birrell was educated at St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown, and Rhodes University, where he received a BA degree and University Education Diploma, before going to Lincoln College, Oxford, to study for a BA (Hons) degree from 1952 to 1954.

Birrell made his first-class debut for Eastern Province in 1947–48 and played 16 matches over the next four seasons as a middle-order batsman and medium-pace bowler.

He reached 50 for the first time in his eighth match, playing for South African Universities against MCC in 1948–49, when he scored 56.

[6] He excelled in the annual match against Cambridge University, scoring 27 and 64 and taking 2 for 89 and 5 for 20, "moving the ball a little either way at medium pace".

[15] The Harry Birrell Scholarship Trust, founded in 1996, helps African children from underprivileged backgrounds to receive a quality secondary education.