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.

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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 told of Harry Jupp (although it is more easily verifiable with him, as eye-witness Lord Harris relates the story in his autobiography).

The above may be a version of the true story that Grace, playing for a London County XI against an Irish side in Dublin, was caught and bowled for a duck by Arnold Harvey, later to become a Bishop. Another future Irish Bishop, Jack Crozier, did a cartwheel as Grace walked reluctantly to the pavilion. Grace allegedly complained to the umpire that the crowd had come to see him bat and not to watch Harvey bowl!^{[citation needed]}

Another, 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 the great and famous beard which made him so instantly recognisable, and raced away to the boundary for four byes. Jim Swanton wrote thus of an incident whose authenticity has been so frequently called into question: "This 1896 Test was probably the scene of the most famous ball ever bowled, the one by Ernest Jones that went through his beard. I raise the doubt because there is conflicting evidence. P F, who became Sir Pelham Warner, in his history Lord's 1787-1945, says that the first ball of England's first innings was very short and very fast. J J Kelly, the wicketkeeper, 'lost sight of it in Grace's beard and it went to the sight screen'. Lord Harris, in his reminiscences, confirms the ball, the place and the occasion and adds that it also touched the top of the bat handle - which, of course, probably made it a chance to the keeper.

"The great Harris's word was law. Yet C. B. Fry, in his autobiography Life Worth Living, declared that the encounter had taken place previously at Sheffield Park. He was playing for Lord Sheffield's XI there, as was Jackson, who went in first with W G and, according to Fry, said likewise. 'What the hell are you at, Jonah?' or alternatively 'What, what, what?' cried W G. Both versions agree on the immortal reply, 'Sorry, doctor, she slipped'. The question never to be answered is whether she slipped twice."^[4]

F.S. Jackson, however, recalled in the 1944 edition of Wisden that the event had occurred in the Sheffield match: "I went in first with W. G. Grace and we had to dance about a bit. One ball from Jones hit W. G. under the arm, and later in the innings another one went head-high past him and over Kelly's head to the boundary. This was the ball about which the Beard Story originated. I can see W. G. now. He threw his head back, which caused his beard to stick out. Down the pitch went W. G., stroking his beard, to Harry Trott and said: 'Here, what is all this?' And Trott said: 'Steady, Jonah.' To which Jones made that famous remark: 'Sorry, Doctor, she slipped.' I do not think the ball actually touched W. G.'s beard. That story was told after-wards, and I believe I was responsible. When I was out and returned to the Pavilion, I said: 'Did you see that one go through W. G.'s beard?'" That, then, would seem to go some way towards clearing up this long-debated issue. Forever thereafter, Grace referred to Jones as "the fellow who bowled through my 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.

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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. 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.

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.

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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).

During the Great War he was known to shake his fist and shout in his famously shrill voice at the German Zeppelins floating over his home in South London. When a friend remonstrated that he had not allowed Ernie Jones' thunderbolt deliveries to unsettle him, Grace retorted "But I could see them!" It was also at about this time, at Grace's Eltham home, that HDG Leveson-Gower famously asked him to name the greatest batsman whom he had known in all his fifty years' cricketing experience. Grace stroked his silvery beard, and there was certainly a twinkle in the eyes behind those bushy brows as he announced with complete certainty that he himself ought to be regarded as the finest ever. Regarding second place, however, Grace's answer was quick and decided, and has been quoted innumerable times since then: "Give me Arthur."

WG Grace died on October 23, 1915, aged 67 after suffering a stroke.

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

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Bibliography

Grace supposedly wrote four separate autobiographies, but he was no writer and these were all "ghost written" for him according to Alan Gibson (see The Cricket Captains of England, 1989, p51). These are:

• Cricket. Ghost-written for him by W. Methven Brownlee. Published by J.W. Arrowsmith, Bristol, 1891.
• The History of a Hundred Centuries, 1895. Ghost-written by William Yardley.
• Cricketing Reminiscences and Personal Recollections. Ghost-written for him by Arthur Porritt. Published by James Bowden, 1899. A facsimile edition was published by Hambledon Press, 1980, ISBN 0950688207.
• W.G.'s Little Book, Newnes, 1909. Ghost-written by EHD Sewell.

Biographies of Grace and works containing profiles of him include (not an exhaustive list):

• "Grace, W G". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004). (2004). 
• David Rayvern Allen (editor), Cricket with Grace: Illustrated Anthology on "W.G.", 1990, ISBN 978-0044404781
• Clifford Bax, W. G. Grace, 1952.
• Bernard Darwin, W. G. Grace (Great Lives Series), 1934.
• David Frith: The Golden Age of Cricket
• Alan Gibson: The Cricket Captains of England, 1989 - Chapter 2, The Days of Grace
• Lord Hawke, Lord Harris, Sir Home Gordon (eds): The Memorial Biography of Dr. W. G. Grace, 1919.
• CLR James: Beyond a Boundary, 1963, ISBN 0 224 07427X
• Eric Midwinter: WG Grace: His Life and Times, 1981, ISBN 978-0047960543
• Brian Pearce, Cricket at the Crystal Palace: W.G. Grace and the London County Cricket Club, 2004, ISBN 978-1897754092
• Simon Rae, W.G.Grace: A Life, 1998, ISBN 978-0571178551
• A.A. Thomson: The Great Cricketer, 1957
• Graeme Wright: Wisden at Lord's

[

See also

• History of Test cricket (to 1883)
• History of Test cricket (1884 to 1889)
• History of Test cricket (1890 to 1900)
• Variations in First-Class Cricket Statistics - for a discussion about the different career figures which appear in various publications. This article uses the "original" figures for WG, as given in the 1916 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.
• Clifton College - where WG's sons were educated and where on the school Close he played several notable innings.

[

References

[

External links

• Player Profile: W. G. Grace from Cricinfo
• Cricketarchive stats
• Swanton on Grace
• Manchester Guardian obituary
• Wisden - WG Grace centenary
• Wisden tribute (1916)

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