W. G. Grace

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WG Grace England (Eng)

Batting style	Right-handed batsman (RHB)
Bowling type	Right arm medium fast
	Tests	First-class
Matches	22	870
Runs scored	1098	54211
Batting average	32.29	39.45
100s/50s	2/5	124/251
Top score	170	344
Balls bowled	666	124831
Wickets	9	2809
Bowling average	26.22	18.14
5 wickets in innings	0	240
10 wickets in match	0	64
Best bowling	2/12	10/49
Catches/stumpings	39/0	876/5
Test debut: 6 September 1880 Last Test: 3 June 1899 Source: [1]

William Gilbert "WG" Grace (July 18, 1848 – October 23, 1915) was an English cricketer who, by his extraordinary skills, made cricket perhaps the first modern spectator sport, and who developed most of the techniques of modern batting.

He has always been referred to in print by his initials and "WG" became something of a sobriquet. His family called him "Gilly" but this was never used in cricket circles. Grace was sometimes referred to in his later career as "The Doctor" or "The Old Man".

In many of the tributes paid to him, he was referred to as "The Great Cricketer". The respected cricket historian Peter Wynne-Thomas paid tribute to Grace in his book The Hamlyn A - Z of Cricket Records. Writing in 1982, he summarised Grace thus:

Even now, 67 years after his death, W G Grace is probably the most easily recognisable sportsman in England and certainly he towers over all his contemporaries in cricket or indeed in any other sport. Undoubtedly he is the greatest of cricketers.

In a career spanning 44 years, Grace's batting average was 39.45 at first class level, an average undoubtedly dragged down by playing into his late fifties. At his peak in the 1870s his first-class season batting averages were regularly between 60 and 70, at a time where uncovered, poorly-prepared pitches meant that scores were far lower than the modern game. His career bowling record of 2809 wickets at the outstanding average of 18.14 speaks for itself.

Grace played Test cricket against Australia from 1880 onwards, but he was already past his peak at that stage.

He was a doctor by profession and played cricket as a (nominal) amateur throughout his career.

[edit] Family

In 1848, Grace was born in Downend, Bristol. He found himself in an atmosphere charged with cricket, his father (Henry Mills Grace), his mother (Martha) and his uncle (Alfred Pocock) being as enthusiastic about the game as his elder brothers, Henry, Alfred and Edward Mills; indeed, with Edward Mills Grace, always known as "EM", the family name first became famous. A younger brother, George Frederick (i.e., Fred), also added to the cricketing reputation of the family. WG witnessed his first great match when he was barely six years old, the occasion being a game between William Clarke's All-England Eleven and twenty-two of West Gloucestershire.

He was married in 1873 to Miss Agnes Day. One of his sons (WG junior) played for two years in the University of Cambridge XI (and also for Gloucestershire, London County, and the MCC). He did not live up to his illustrious namesake, averaging 15 with the bat and nearly 40 with the ball. Another son, CB Grace, played a few matches for London County.

[edit] Athletic abilities

As a young man, Grace was very different from the rather corpulent figure of his later days. He was endowed by nature with a splendid physique as well as powers of self-restraint and determination. At the acme of his career he stood a full 6ft 2in. (1.88m), and was powerfully proportioned, loose yet strong of limb.

A non-smoker, he kept himself in condition all year round by shooting, hunting, or running with the beagles as soon as the cricket season was over.

He was also a fine runner, 440yds (400m) over 20 hurdles being his best distance, and it may be quoted as proof of his stamina that on 30 July 1866 he scored 224 not out for England v Surrey, and two days later won a race in the National and Olympian Association meeting at the Crystal Palace.

Grace became an enthusiast of lawn bowls when he moved to London as manager of the London County Club in 1900. He was a prime mover in the founding of the English Bowling Association in 1903 and was elected their first president. He also helped found an international competition with Scotland, Ireland and Wales, captaining England from their inaugural international, at Crystal Palace in 1903, until 1908.

[edit] First-class career

The title of champion was well earned by one who for forty-four years (1865–1908 inclusive) was actively engaged in first-class cricket. He represented the Gentlemen in their matches against the Players from 1865 to 1906, though his final appearance in those matches played at Lord's was in 1899. When an Australian eleven visited England, he was an automatic selection to play for the mother country up to and including the first of the five contests in 1899. When he was finally omitted, it was primarily because his age and bulk had made him a liability in the field.

1899 could be said to mark the beginning of the end of his career, although he would continue in first-class cricket for another nine years. Not only did he play his last Test, and for the last time in a Lord's Gentleman v Players match, but he also played his last County Championship match for Gloucestershire. This was the result of his falling out with the Gloucestershire committee over his involvement with London County.

As late as 1902, though aged fifty-four by the end of the seaon, he scored nearly 1,200 runs in first-class cricket, made 100 or more runs on two different occasions, and had an average of 37 runs. Moreover, his greatest triumphs were achieved when only the very best cricket grounds received serious attention — when, as some consider, bowling was maintained at a higher standard, and when all hits had to be run out. He, with his two brothers, EM and Fred, assisted by some fine amateurs, in one season turned Gloucestershire into a first-class county. Gloucestershire was "Champion County" in 1874, 1876 and 1877; they also shared the title in 1873.

It was Grace who enabled the amateurs of England to meet the paid players on equal terms in the Gentlemen v Players fixture and to beat them more often than not. The list of Gentlemen v Players matches makes for revealing reading. In the 24 matches played between 1850 and 1864 inclusive, the Players won 22, the Gentlemen just one, with one being drawn. In the 36 matches played after Grace began playing for the Gentlemen, between 1865 and 1879, the Players won just four, with eight matches being drawn and the Gentlemen winning the remaining 24.

[edit] Fielding and bowling

There was hardly a record connected with the game which did not stand to Grace's credit. He was one of the finest fieldsmen in England, in his earlier days generally taking long-leg and cover-point, later generally standing point (see Fielding positions in cricket). He was, at his best, a fine thrower, fast runner, and safe catcher. As a bowler he was long in the first flight, originally bowling fast, but in later times adopting a slower and more tricky style, frequently very effective.

In 1884, Grace unusually took up position as wicket-keeper in a Test against Australia, so that the usual wicket-keeper, Alfred Lyttelton could bowl. Billy Midwinter was immediately caught behind, down the legside. Grace remains the only Test wicket-keeper to have taken a catch off the first ball bowled with him behind the stumps.[2]

[edit] Profession

Photograph of Grace taking guard, signed in ink in the lower white border, 1883

By profession Grace was a medical man, though he did not finally qualify as a doctor until he was in his thirties. He trained at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London and thereafter worked both in his own practise in Easton, a largely poor district of Bristol, employing two locums during the cricket season, and for the Bristol Poor Law Union. It seems that despite his amateur status, the greater part of his income came from cricketing activities.

He was the recipient of two national testimonials: the first, amounting to £1,500, being presented to him in the form of a clock and a cheque at the Lord's ground by Lord Charles Russell on the 22 July 1879; the second, collected by the MCC, the county of Gloucestershire, the Daily Telegraph, and the Sportsman, amounted to about £10,000, and was presented to him in 1896.

In later years he became (paid) secretary and manager of the London County Cricket Club, based at Crystal Palace in Penge, London, which played first-class cricket from 1900 to 1904.

He lived for some years in Mottingham, a south-east London suburb (a blue plaque marks his residence, 'Fairmont' in Mottingham Lane, where he died on 23 October 1915). He is buried in Beckenham Crematorium.

[edit] Early career

Grace played his first "great" match in 1863 when, being only fifteen years of age, he scored 32 against the All-England Eleven against the bowling of Jackson, Tarrant, and Tinley. The scores that first brought him to prominence, however, were made in 1864: 170 and 56 not out for the South Wales Club against the Gentlemen of Sussex. It was in 1865 that he first took an active part in first-class cricket, being then 6ft (1.83 m) high, and 11 stone (70 kg) in weight, and playing twice for the Gentlemen v the Players, but his selection was mainly due to his bowling powers, the best exposition of which was his aggregate of 13 wickets for 84 runs for the Gentlemen of the South v the Players of the South. His highest score was 400 not out, made in July 1876 in a non-first-class match against twenty-two of Grimsby. On three occasions he was twice dismissed without scoring in matches against odds, a fate that never befell him in important cricket matches.

[edit] Tours

WG Grace and Australian Billy Murdoch

Grace visited Australia in 1873–1874 (captain), and in 1891–1892 with Lord Sheffield's Eleven (captain). He visited the United States and Canada in 1872, with R A Fitzgerald's team.

[edit] Records and statistics

[edit] Highest score

In first-class matches Grace's highest score was 344, made for the MCC v Kent at Canterbury in August 1876; two days later he made 177 for Gloucestershire v Notts, and two days after that 318 not out for Gloucestershire v Yorkshire, the latter two innings against counties with exceptionally strong bowling attacks. Thus in three consecutive innings Grace scored 839 runs, and was only out twice. The 344 was the first triple century scored in first class cricket. William Ward's 278 scored in 1820 had stood as a record for 56 years, within a week Grace bettered it twice.

His 344 was the third highest individual score made in a big match in England up to the end of 1901. He also scored 301 for Gloucestershire v Sussex at Bristol in August 1896. His 318 against Yorkshire stood as a Gloucestershire record for 128 years until it was broken by Craig Spearman's 341 against Middlesex in June 2004.

[edit] Double centuries

Grace made over 200 runs on ten occasions, the most notable perhaps being in 1871, when he performed the feat twice, each time in benefit matches, and each time in the second innings, having been each time got out in the first over of the first innings. Against Middlesex, he carried his bat for 221, and sat up the whole night in between beside the bed of a patient.

[edit] Centuries

Grace scored over 100 runs on 124 occasions, the hundredth score being 288, made at Bristol for Gloucestershire v Somersetshire in 1895.

He made every figure from 0 to 100, on one occasion closing the innings when he had made 93, the only total he had never made between these limits.

In 1871 he made ten centuries, ranging from 268 to 116.

In the matches between the Gentlemen and Players he scored three figures fifteen times, and at every place where these matches have been played.

He made over 100 in each of his first appearances at Oxford and Cambridge.

Three times he made over 100 in both innings of the same match:

at Canterbury, in 1868, for South v North of the Thames, 130 and 102 not out;
at Clifton, in 1887, for Gloucestershire v Kent, 101 and 103 not out;
at Clifton, in 1888, for Gloucestershire v Yorkshire, 148 and 153.

[edit] Partnerships and other miscellaneous statistics

In 1869, playing at the Oval for the Gentlemen of the South v the Players of the South, Grace and B B Cooper put on 283 runs for the first wicket, Grace scoring 180 and Cooper 101. In 1886 Grace and Scotton put on 170 runs for the first wicket of England v Australia; this occurred at the Oval in August, and Grace's total score was 170.

In consecutive innings against the Players from 1871 to 1873 he scored 217, 77, and 112, 117, 163, 158, and 70.

He only twice scored over 100 in a big match in Australia, nor did he ever make 200 at Lord's, his highest being 196 for the MCC v Cambridge University in 1894.

[edit] Season totals

Grace's highest aggregates were 2,739 (1871), 2,622 (1876), 2,346 (1895), 2,139 (1873), 2,135 (1896), and 2,062 (1887).

[edit] Other feats

Grace scored three successive centuries in first-class cricket in 1871, 1872, 1873, 1874, and 1876.

Playing against Kent at Gravesend in 1895, he was batting, bowling, or fielding during the whole time the game was in progress, his scores being 257 and 73 not out.

His portrait was used as the face of God in the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail and was also used on occasion in Monty Python's Flying Circus.

He once hit a ball 36 miles after a shot landed on a passing steam train.

While playing against F Townsend's XI at Cheltenham in 1874, Grace agreed to bat with a broomstick while everyone else was to use a normal bat. In spite of this, he made 35 runs, the second highest score.

[edit] The Double

Grace scored over 1,000 runs and took over 100 wickets in seven different seasons:

in 1874, 1,664 runs and 139 wickets;
in 1875, 1,498 runs and 191 wickets;
in 1876, 2,622 runs and 130 wickets;
in 1877, 1,474 runs and 179 wickets;
in 1878, 1,151 runs and 153 wickets;
in 1885, 1,688 runs and 117 wickets;
in 1886, 1,846 runs and 122 wickets.

(statistics taken from CricketArchive [3] and [4]).

[edit] Bowling records

Grace never captured 200 wickets in a season, his best being 191 in 1875. Playing against Oxford University in 1886, he took all the wickets in the first innings, at a cost of 49 runs, having scored 104 in his only innings of the match.

[edit] 1895

In 1895 Grace not only made his hundredth century, but actually scored 1,000 runs in the month of May alone, his chief scores in that month being 103, 288, 256, 73, and 169, he being then forty-six years old. He also made during that year scores of 125, 119, 118, 104, and 103 not out, his aggregate for the year being 2,346, and his average 51; his innings of 118 was made against the Players (at Lord's), the chief bowlers being Richardson, Mold, Peel, and Attewell; he scored level with his partner, Andrew Stoddart (his junior by fifteen years), the pair making 151 before a wicket fell, Grace making in all 118 out of 241. This may fairly be considered one of his most wonderful years.

[edit] Gentlemen v Players, 1898

In 1898 the match between Gentlemen v Players was, as a special compliment, arranged by the MCC committee to take place on Grace's birthday, and he celebrated the event by scoring 43 and 31 not out, though handicapped by lameness and an injured hand.

In twenty-six different seasons he scored over 1,000 runs, in three of these years being the only man to do so, and five times being one of only two.

[edit] Unconfirmed stories

There are several unconfirmed stories regarding Grace. The most popular holds that Grace was bowled out on the first ball of a charity match, but continued to play, exclaiming “They came to see me bat, not to see you umpire”. (Essentially the same story is also told of Harry Jupp).

Another, which is essentially true, is that the Australian pace bowler Ernie Jones bowled a short-pitched delivery so close to Grace's face that it appeared to "go through his beard".

It is also widely rumoured that W.G. Grace refereed the first ever match for Gloucester City A.F.C. against Bristol Rovers in 1883.

[edit] Career overview

During his first-class career from 1865 to 1908, Grace scored over 54,000 runs, with an average of 39, and in bowling he took more than 2,800 wickets, at an average cost of about 18 runs per wicket. He made his highest aggregate (2,739 runs) and had his highest average (78) in 1871; his average for the decade 1868–1877 was 57 runs. His style as a batsman was more commanding than graceful, but as to its soundness and efficacy there were never two opinions; the severest criticism ever passed upon his powers was to the effect that he did not play slow bowling quite as well as fast. He played Test cricket against Australia in the 1880s, but he was already past his peak at that stage. He played his last Test at the age of 51.

[edit] His Final Match

The last game of cricket in which W.G. Grace batted was for Eltham at Grove Park on 25 July 1914, a week after his 66th birthday. He contributed an undefeated 69 to a total of 155-6 declared, having begun his innings when they were 31-4. Grove Park made 99-8 in reply.

The Doctor had made his final first-class appearance on 20-22 April 1908 for the Gentlemen of England v Surrey at The Oval, where, opening the innings, he scored 15 and 25. That year, on 26 June, he scored his final century (111 not out for London County v Whitgift Wanderers, a match in which he also took seven wickets, including a hat-trick.

Preceded by Walter Read	English national cricket captain 1888	Succeeded by Sir Aubrey Smith
Preceded by Sir Aubrey Smith	English national cricket captain 1890	Succeeded by Walter Read
Preceded by Walter Read	English national cricket captain 1891/2-1893	Succeeded by Andrew Stoddart
Preceded by Lord Hawke	English national cricket captain 1896	Succeeded by Andrew Stoddart

[edit] Trivia

An image of W.G. Grace was used as the animated face of God in the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

[edit] Bibliography

WG Grace: Cricketing Reminiscences and Personal Recollections (Ghost-written for him by Arthur Porritt - Alan Gibson: The Cricket Captains of England, 1989, p51.)
"Grace, W G". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004). (2004).
David Frith: The Golden Age of Cricket
Eric Midwinter: WG Grace: His Life and Times
A.A. Thomson: The Great Cricketer
Peter Wynne-Thomas: Hamlyn A-Z of Cricket records (see quotation above)
Graeme Wright: Wisden at Lord's

[edit] See also

Cricket Portal

History of Test cricket (to 1883)
History of Test cricket (1884 to 1889)
History of Test cricket (1890 to 1900)
Traditional career totals - for a discussion about the different career figures which appear in various publications.
Clifton College - where WG's sons were educated and where on the school Close he scored several notable innings.

[edit] External links

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