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GRACE, WILLIAM GILBERT (1848– )

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 309 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GRACE, See also:WILLIAM See also:GILBERT (1848– ) , See also:English cricketer, was See also:born at Downend, See also:Gloucestershire, on the 18th of See also:July 1848. He found himself in an See also:atmosphere charged with See also:cricket, his See also:father (See also:Henry See also:Mills Grace) and his See also:uncle (See also:Alfred See also:Pocock) being as enthusiastic over the See also:game as his See also:elder See also:brothers, Henry, Alfred and See also:Edward Mills; indeed, in E. M. Grace the See also:family name first became famous. A younger See also:brother, See also:George See also:Frederick, also added to the cricket reputation of the family. "W. G." witnessed his first See also:great match when he was hardly six years old, the occasion being a game between W. See also:Clarke's All-See also:England Eleven and twenty-two of See also:West Gloucestershire. He was endowed by nature with a splendid physique as well as with See also:powers of self-See also:restraint and determination. At the See also:acme of his career he stood full 6 ft. 2 in., being powerfully proportioned. loose yet strong of See also:limb. A non-smoker, and very moderate 2 It is suggested by W.

Warde See also:

Fowler that See also:Gracchus proposed to add a certain number of See also:equites to the See also:senate, thereby increasing it to 900, but the See also:plan was never carried out. in all matters, he kept himself in See also:condition all the See also:year See also:round, See also:shooting, See also:hunting or See also:running with the beagles as soon as the cricket See also:season was over. He was also a See also:fine runner, 440 yds. over 20 hurdles being his best distance; and it may be quoted as See also:proof of his stamina that on the 3oth of July 1866 he scored 224 not out for England v. See also:Surrey, and two days later won a See also:race in the See also:National and Olympian Association See also:meeting at the Crystal See also:Palace. The See also:title of " See also:champion " was well earned by one who for See also:thirty-six years (1865—1900 inclusive) was actively engaged in first-class cricket. In each of these years he was invited to represent the Gentlemen in their matches against the Players, and, when an Australian eleven visited England, to See also:play for the See also:mother See also:country. As See also:late as 1899 he played in the first of the five See also:international contests; in 190o he played against the players at the See also:Oval, scoring 58 and 3. At fifty-three he scored nearly 1300 runs in first-class cricket, made See also:loo runs and over on three different occasions and could claim an See also:average of 42 runs. Moreover, his greatest triumphs were achieved when only the very best cricket grounds received serious See also:attention; when, as some consider, See also:bowling was maintained at a higher See also:standard and when all hits had to be run out. He, with his two brothers, E. M. and G. F., assisted by some fine amateurs, made Gloucestershire in one season a first-class See also:county; and it was he who first enabled the amateurs of England to meet the paid players on equal terms and to See also:beat them.

There was hardly a " See also:

record " connected with the game which did not stand to his See also:credit. Grace was one of the finest fieldsmen in England, in his earlier days generally taking See also:long-See also:leg and See also:cover-point, in later times generally See also:standing point. He was, at his best, a fine thrower, fast runner and safe " catch." As a bowler he was long in the first See also:flight, originally bowling fast, but in later times adopting a slower and more tricky See also:style, frequently very effective. By profession he was a medical See also:man. In later years he became secretary and manager of the See also:London County Cricket See also:Club. He was married in 1873 to See also:Miss See also:Agnes See also:Day, and one of his sons played for two years in the See also:Cambridge eleven. He was the recipient of two national testimonials: the first, amounting to £1500, being presented to him in the See also:form of a See also:clock and a See also:cheque at See also:Lord's ground by Lord See also:Charles See also:Russell on the 22nd of July 1879; the second, collected by the M.C.C., the county of Gloucestershire, the Daily See also:Telegraph and the Sportsman, amounted to about £ro,000, and was presented to him in 1896. He visited See also:Australia in 1873—1874 (See also:captain), and in 1891—1892 with Lord See also:Sheffield's Eleven (captain); the See also:United States and See also:Canada in 1872, with R. A. See also:Fitzgerald's team. Dr Grace played his first great match in 1863. when, being only fifteen years of See also:age, he scored 32 against the All-England Eleven and the bowling of See also:Jackson, Tarrant and Tinley; but the scores which first made his name prominent were made in 1864, viz. 170 and 56 not out for the See also:South See also:Wales Club against the Gentlemen of See also:Sussex.

It was in 1865 that he first took an active See also:

part in first-class cricket, being then 6 ft. in height, and II See also:stone in See also: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 See also:score was 400 not out, made in July 1876 against twenty-two of See also:Grimsby; but on three occasions he was twice dismissed without scoring in matches against odds, a See also:fate that never befell him in important cricket. In first-class matches his highest score was 344, made for the M.C.C. v. See also:Kent at See also:Canterbury, in See also:August 1876; two days later he made 177 for Gloucestershire v. Notts, and two days after this 318 not out for Gloucestershire v. See also:Yorkshire, the two last-named opposing counties being possessed of exceptionally strong bowling; thus in three consecutive innings Grace scored 839 runs, and was only got out 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 See also:Bristol, in August 1896. He made over 200 runs on ten occasions, the most notable perhaps being in 1871, when he performed the feat twice, each See also: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. He scored over 100 runs on 121 occasions, the hundredth score being 288, made at Bristol for Gloucestershire v. See also:Somersetshire in 1895.

He made every figure from o to too, on one occasion " closing " the innings when he had made 93, the only See also:

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 " threefigures " fifteen times, and at every See also:place where these matches have been played. He made over too in each of his " first appearances " at See also:Oxford and Cambridge. Three times he made over too in each innings of the same match, viz. at Canterbury, in 1868, for South v. See also:North of the See also:Thames, 130 and 102 not out; at See also:Clifton, in 1887, for Gloucestershire v. Kent, tot and 103 not out; and at Clifton, in 1888, for Gloucestershire v. Yorkshire, 148 and 153. In 1869, playing at the Oval for the Gentlemen of the South v. the Players of the South, Grace and B. B. See also:Cooper put on 283 runs for the first wicket, Grace scoring 18o and Cooper jot. 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 See also:

Ioo in a big match in Australia, nor did he ever make 200 at Lord's, his highest being 196 for the M.C.C. v. Cambridge University in 1894. His highest aggregates were 2739 (1871), 2622 (1876), 2346 (1895), 2139 (1873), 2135 (1896) and 2062 (1887). He scored three successive centuries in first-class cricket in 1871, 1872, 1873, 1874 and 1876. Playing against Kent at See also:Gravesend in 1895, he was batting, bowling or See also:fielding during the whole time the game was in progress, his scores being 257 and 73 not out. He scored over r000 runs and took over 100 wickets in seven different seasons, viz. in 1874, 1665 runs and 129 wickets; in 1875, 1498 runs, 192 wickets; in 1876, 2622 runs, 124 wickets; in 1877, 1474 runs, 179 wickets; in 1878, 1151 runs, 153 wickets; in 1885, 1688 runs, 118 wickets; in 1886, 1846 runs, 122 wickets.' He never captured 200 wickets in a season, his highest record being 192 in 1815. Playing against Oxford University in 1886, he took all the wickets in the first innings, at a cost of 49 runs. In 1895 he not only made his hundredth See also:century, but actually scored moo runs in the See also:month of May alone, his See also:chief scores in that month being 103, 288, 256, 73 and 169, he being then See also:forty-seven years old. He also made during that year scores of 125, 119, 118, 104 and 103 not out, his aggregate for the year being 2346 and his average 51; his innings of 118 was made against the Players (at Lord's), the chief bowlers being See also:Richardson, See also:Mold, See also:Peel and Attewell; he scored level with his partner, A. E.

Stoddart (his junior by fifteen years), the pair making 151 before a wicket See also:

fell, Grace making in all 118 out of 241. This may fairly be considered one of his most wonderful years. In 1898 the match between Gentlemen v. Players was, as a See also:special compliment, arranged by the M.C.C. See also:committee to take place on his See also:birth-day, and he celebrated the event by scoring 43 and 31 not out, though handicapped by lameness and an injured See also:hand. In twenty-six different seasons he scored over loon runs, in three of these years being the only man to do so and five times being one out of two. During the thirty-six years up to and including 1900 he scored nearly 51,000 runs, with an average of 43; and in bowling he took more than 2800 wickets, at an average cost of about 20 runs per wicket. He made his highest aggregate (2739 runs) and had his highest average (78) in 1871; his average for the See also: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 See also:criticism ever passed upon his powers was to the effect that he did not play slow bowling quite as well as fast. (W. J.

End of Article: GRACE, WILLIAM GILBERT (1848– )

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