Former NZ cricketer who caught a stray dog in India in 1955 dies at 90

Former New Zealand Test cricketer Matt Poore, who is remembered for catching a stray dog during a match in Bangalore in 1955 and subsequently taking 12 anti-rabies injection, has died at the age of 90. According to stuff.co.nz, Poore, a dog lover, "did not hesitate when a stray ran onto the field when playing cricket for New Zealand in Bangalore". He ferried the dog away from the pitch but received a nip for his trouble, which set off alarm bells in the national team for fear that the dog had passed on life-threatening rabies, the report said.

Bangalore was not a venue of any Test in that tour and most likely, the incident happened in a tour game. The four Tests were held in Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. An all-rounder, Poore had a short but colourful 14-Test career between 1953 and 1956 alongside two greats Bert Sutcliffe and John Reid. "With no doctor travelling with the tour party, it meant Poore required an antibiotic injection every day for the next two weeks, the jab mostly administered by his team-mates. Some, gleefully.

The whole family were always dog lovers and Dad would go up and pat any old dog, which he did this time and he got bitten, Poore's son, Richard said. Richard said when the players was travelling, they would meet a doctor at a specific time and it could be 100km from the nearest town out in the middle of the road for his next injection into his father's stomach. He got something like 12 injections over a 12-day period, some of them from team-mates. I think a few might have taken a bit of pleasure in that. Poore scored 355 runs at 15.43 and his highest Test score was 45 against South Africa here in 1953.