The First Test Gambling Scandal
In 1877 a representative England side was touring New Zealand and then Australia. Every match was an occasion for gambling by supporters of both sides and most games had a prize purse to play for. Pooley was injured and travelled ahead of the team to recuperate before a match in Christchurch, New Zealand. Another visitor, Ralph Donkin, offered odds of 20-1 to anyone who guessed the exact score of a batsman. The game was to be an Odds match where the England XI would play 22 of Christchurch and Pooley simply put a shilling on each batsman to make 0. He stood to make a pound for each duck scored for an initial stake of 22 shillings (£1.10). He also apparently umpired during the match. After the match - which featured 11 scores of 0 - Pooley claimed £9 15s from Donkin who refused to pay. It was Pooley's alleged assault on Donkin that led to his arrest at Dunedin (after another match in which Pooley played). He was sent for trial at Christchurch, just before the England team left for Australia and what would subsequently be recognised as the first Test match. Eventually he was found not guilty (along with the England team's bag man Alfred Bramhall) and returned to England several weeks after his fellow tourists. The story goes that the people of Christchurch held a public subscription and bought him a pocket watch.
It was not the first time he had been in trouble with authority figures. He was well known as a drinker and a gambler. In 1873 he had been suspended by Surrey for taking a bet on a match he was playing in.
Read more about this topic: Ted Pooley
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