Dom Sibley’s maiden Test century might have brought unbridled joy to the Sibley family, but it has been reported that his first Test appearance in New Zealand back in November also won them a handsome £21,000 after a longstanding bet came through.
Kenneth Mackenzie, Sibley’s maternal grandfather, placed two bets on his grandson playing Test cricket for England shortly before he passed away in 2011. Mackenzie saw Sibley’s potential from a young age and was quoted odds of 150-1 for him to play for England but did not place a bet until Sibley turned 16.
Sibley has been a prolific runscorer from a young age. At 15, he scored just the fourth ever double hundred in the history of the Surrey Championship Premier Division and at 18, he became the youngest man to ever score a double century in the County Championship. Sibley, who moved from Surrey to Warwickshire in 2017, never scored another County Championship hundred for his boyhood county. But since his move to Edgbaston, he has rediscovered the form that made him one of the most talked about young batsmen in the country. His prolific form in the 2019 County Championship eventually led to his first England call-up for England’s tour to New Zealand.
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Kenneth’s daughter, Christine, told The Times: “He’d have been so proud of Dom’s achievement, so watching him was tinged with sadness, but he’d also have been delighted at pulling off the bet at massive odds.
“Dom was five when he originally said he could play for England — by the time he was seven or eight he was playing for the under-9s and that was when the inquiries were made at William Hill about the odds. He went back a few years later and told them he thought the odds were a bit skinny, but they honoured the bet.”
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Rupert Adams, a William Hill spokesman, recalls Mackenzie’s initial inquiry. “I remember Kenneth calling with the first inquiry about his grandson about 15 years ago and when he called back again we honoured the odds he’d been offered,” said Adams. “This is a record-breaking payout for any such bet involving a cricket protégé. Dom clearly made a massive impression on his adoring grandfather and it is a great shame he never lived to collect his winnings.”
