Could this be the one? Extract taken from
www.espncricinfo.com/blogs/content/story/646801.html
, by Jon Hotten:
"One of the most extraordinary matches from these early years took place on 21 May 1827, on Harefield Common near Rickmansworth, where "for a considerable sum" two gentlemen of Middlesex took on Mr Francis Trumper, a farmer at Harefield, and his sheep dog in a two innings game.
"The match had its own backdrop. It had been "very much talked of in the neighbourhood" for three weeks before it took place, and a considerable crowd turned up to watch, drawn by both the bright and clear summer's day and ante-post odds of 5-1 against Trumper and the dog. Here is what happened next:
"The dog always stood near his master as he was going to bowl, and the moment the ball was hit he kept his eye upon it and started after it with speed; and, on his master running up to the wicket, the dog would carry the ball in his mouth and put it in his master's hand with such wonderful quickness, that the gentlemen found it hard to get a run, even from a very long hit."
"It must have been a stellar performance, one of the first great exhibitions of craft in the field, and early historical evidence for Duncan Fletcher's insistence that everyone be able to do it.
"Due in no small part to the dog - whose name, along with those of the gentlemen in the opposition, goes unrecorded - it was a low-scoring encounter. The gentlemen batted first and made three. Next Trumper went in and "scored three for himself and then two for his dog".
"As odds on an upset were cut to 4-1, the gentlemen batted again and made another three, leaving Trumper the task of making two to win, which he did without having recourse to his dog's second innings.
"The money lost and won on the occasion was considerable, as a great number of gentlemen came from Uxbridge and the neighbouring towns and villages to see so extraordinary a game."
"Thus Trumper and his faithful hound pulled off one of cricket's first betting coups."
Topic Author
