As we prepare for our annual match v ZSL the question was recently asked, why we play a match against London Zoo, now called the Zoological Society of London or ZSL. It occurred to our President, Peter Sayer, that many Club Members may be wondering the same thing and thought it might be helpful if he gave a brief history of the game as he's understands it and to share it with all of our members.

Peter has taken as his starting point a letter and photograph from Mr L M Flewin of the ZSL to the editor of what, he assumes, was the ZSL house journal giving the history of the first encounter between the two teams on June 28th 1927 won by ZSL by 39 runs to 31 at Ampthill and attach same with some notes by Richard (Dick) Dillingham MBE who was Captain, Chairman and eventually President of Ampthill Town Cricket Club who passed away in 2001. These are attached.

In those days Sir (not Lord) Anthony Wingfield had a very large house and grounds in Ampthill (where The Cloisters is now) and kept his own private zoo. It was normal to see his keepers riding or driving carts pulled by strange animals through Ampthill. With the animal connection, Sir Anthony was very involved with ZSL, he was a Member of the ZSL Council and a friend of the ZSL Director, Dr G M Veevors. There are many photographs in Andrew Underwood's books covering "Old Ampthill". Sir Anthony was also involved in the creation of Whipsnade Zoo. Sir Anthony was President of Ampthill Town Cricket Club and he and Dr Veevors agreed to play a cricket match which took place as mentioned above in 1927. It was obviously enjoyed by all because a return fixture was arranged in 1928 and Dr Veevors presented the:- AMPTHILL CHALLENGE CUP, A PERPETUAL TROPHY To be played for Annually by the AMPTHILL CRICKET CLUB and ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S CRICKET CLUB G. M. V. 1928 ( All as engraved on the cup.) This is the cup that we still play for today. The winners name is engraved on attached shields round the base and it is interesting to note that ZSL won in 1928, 29, 30 and 31 with ATCC winning in 1932 and 33. ZSL also won the inaugural game in 1927. There is a gap in the record then until 1949 (obviously after the war) when ATCC won.

There is no record of winners from then until 1986 and the local story goes that after 1949 with life tough, the game was shelved and the Cup kept by an Ampthill player. In 1985 when the player's house was cleared, the Cup came to light once again and our President, Richard Dillingham, took on the task of contacting ZSL and seeing if the fixture could be played again. This was taken up by ZSL and a fixture was arranged for 1986. Rumours circulated here that ZSL used to bring in "guest" players from the MCC to supplement the team and it was "feared" that would happen again. An All Day game was arranged at Ampthill with lunch, tea and a bar provided, and ATCC fielded their strongest team. I attach a photograph of both teams from that match and recognise a young Leslie Bird. Richard Dillingham is in mufti and yours truly is the tallest guy at the back. ZSL did not bring any ringers from MCC and Ampthill amassed a big score with two batsmen getting 100s. I think the two batsmen were Ivor Owen and Phil Murphy. A great day was had by all and it was agreed to repeat the game the following year at Regents Park and make it a late afternoon start. This was repeated for several years until Regents Park cricket facilities became unsafe and the fixture has been played at Ampthill each year since then. Winners since 1986 have been ATCC 1986, 87, 88 and 89. ZSL 1990, 91, 92 93. ATCC 1994, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99. ZSL 2000. ATCC 2001. ZSL 2002. ATCC 2003. ZSL 2004. ATCC 2005. ZSL 2006. ATCC 2007. ZSL 2008. ATCC 2009, 10, 11, 12, 14 and 15.

Over the years we have some memorable games. One year the result went down the last ball with ZSL winning resulting in a mass invasion of the pitch by the coach load of supporters. Other years, the weather has played it's part, once by saving a huge thunderstorm after weeks of dry weather for the afternoon of the match. The team was en-route and we had to go ahead and played a version of kwik cricket on the outfield. The bar did good trade. Leslie Bird has been instrumental in organising the ZSL team from 1986 onwards and for that we thank him. One year he was hit in the face by the ball which resulted in much bleeding, but, luckily, we had a vet in our team who stitched Leslie up a treat and he was back on the field playing in no time.

Many matches brought a coach load of players, wives, supporters and children to the match with many car loads as well from central London. Some years, the ZSL team has had some very good players from Oz working over here and the ZSL team has been made up of employees based at both London and Whipsnade. It is always eagerly anticipated here at ATCC and is always good fun.
Long may it continue.