7 Facts you should know about the very first Test Match

#2 England’s first choice wicket-keeper jailed for assault

Ted Pooley – the truant wicket-keeper

England’s first choice wicketkeeper Ted Pooley had to miss the historic first test match, largely due to his affinity towards gambling. The English team had a brief stopover in New Zealand where a lot of unofficial cricket matches were organised for the tourists, often featuring more than eleven players in the opposition.

The culture of betting, based on the individual scores of batsmen, was quite common at that time and Pooley, who never missed a chance of making easy money, put his money on all batsmen representing the Canterbury side, scoring 0.

By coincidence, eleven batsmen ended up doing exactly that – but what of course didn’t help Pooley’s case was, that he himself stood as an umpire in that match – convenient, wasn’t it? Needless to say, a brawl ensued and Pooley was left languishing in a Christchurch jail, while the rest of his teammates scripted history.