Sir Mervyn gives new Bank of England chief a lesson in batting during employee sports day (but, naturally, the bankers didn't have a sack race)

• Outgoing and incoming Governors at sports day in south-west London
• Mark Carney today formally begins new job to help rebuild economy
  
• Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander also on cricket pitch
  

By Sam Greenhill

PUBLISHED: 17:22 EST, 30 June 2013 | UPDATED: 04:22 EST, 6 July 2013

It was the most gentlemanly of handovers between the outgoing and incoming Governors of the Bank of England.

Canadian Mark Carney was given a lesson in batting yesterday by his predecessor Sir Mervyn King.

The pair enjoyed an exclusive cricket match at the Bank of England’s plush sports ground in south-west London.

Sports day: Sir Mervyn King, 65, whose final day in the job as Governor of the Bank of England was yesterday, wore cricket whites and enthusiastically played tennis and cricket in the 26C sunshine

Discussions: Canadian Mark Carney's (centre) sunny introduction to the English way of life came on the day before formally beginning his new job today

Mr Carney’s sunny introduction to the English way of life came on the day before formally beginning his new job today.

He was poached by Chancellor George Osborne from the Bank of Canada, and he now begins the task of helping rebuild Britain’s battered economy.

Mr Osborne’s deputy, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander, was also on the cricket pitch yesterday.

Governor’s Day, a sports day for employees of the Bank and their families, was a chance for Mr Carney, 48, to meet his new colleagues informally and have some fun before the serious work begins.

As well as enjoying bouncy castles and fairground rides, invite-only guests could play tennis, football and cricket.

Sir Mervyn, 65, whose final day in the job was yesterday, wore cricket whites and enthusiastically played tennis and cricket in the 26C sunshine.

It's over: Mr Carney is being paid £624,000 a year - about £100,000 more than Sir Mervyn (right) - and is also receiving a £5,000-a-week housing allowance from taxpayers

Getting to know you: Mr Carney speaks (left) with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander, and (right) giving an interview to a television crew

Despite being an avid sportsman, Mr Carney, wearing a blue blazer and matching trousers, chose not to take part in the games, instead watching others play before retiring to a pavilion tent.

He was a hockey star in his youth, and recently discovered his old pair of football boots from his days at Oxford University - still caked in Oxford mud, according to a friend.

In Canada, Mr Carney was hailed as a ‘rock star banker’ for his genius in keeping the economy growing during the global economic crisis.

He arrives in London - as the first non-British Governor of the Bank of England - with pressure on him to work his magic to revive the economy here.

He has already signalled a possible end to the record period of low interest rates and the cheap mortgages they bring.

A former Goldman Sachs banker, Mr Carney is being paid £624,000 a year - about £100,000 more than Sir Mervyn - and is also receiving a £5,000-a-week housing allowance from taxpayers.

Well-liked: Mr Carney (right) was hailed in Canada as a 'rock star banker' for his genius in keeping the economy growing during the global economic crisis

In addition, he will also earn £1,000 a week renting out his luxury family house in Ottawa, Canada, for the five years he will be Bank of England Governor.

His wife Diana and their four school-age daughters have gone on a holiday before moving to Britain to join him, as their London lodgings are not yet available.

Earlier this year, Mrs Carney suggested on Twitter that her family had been struggling to find a place live in London, bemoaning that an influx of wealthy French fleeing their socialist president’s hefty taxes had made their house-hunting in London more difficult.

Friends in Canada say the children are apprehensive about uprooting their lives and moving to Britain. But both of their parents are looking forward to the move.

Their mother was born in the UK, and Mr and Mrs Carney loved living in trendy Primrose Hill, near Regent’s Park, when he worked at Goldman Sachs in the 1990s.