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William Gilbert Grace was an English amateur cricketer who was important in the development of the sport and is widely considered one of its greatest players. He played first-class cricket for a record-equalling 44 seasons, from 1865 to 1908, during which he captained England, Gloucestershire, the Gentlemen, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the United South of England Eleven (USEE) and several other teams.
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Gloucestershire. Founded in 1870, Gloucestershire have always been first-class and have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England. The club played its first senior match in 1870 and W. G. Grace was their captain. The club plays home games at the Bristol County Ground in the Bishopston area of north Bristol. A number of games are also played at the Cheltenham Cricket Festival at the College Ground, Cheltenham and matches have also been played at the Gloucester cricket festival at The King's School, Gloucester.
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The Prince's Club was a socially exclusive gentlemen's multisports club in London, England. The original 'Prince's Club' was founded in 1853 in Chelsea by George and James Prince and its main sports were rackets and real tennis. Cricket, croquet and lawn tennis were also played. After most of its ground was lost to building developments it closed in 1887. Its successor, the 'New Prince's Club', located in Knightsbridge, opened in 1888 and kept its focus on rackets and real tennis, but no longer had any outdoor sports. In 1896 the Prince's Skating Club was opened. The Prince's Club was in operation until the 1940s.
From May to September in 1878, an Australian cricket team made the inaugural first-class tour of England by a representative overseas side. In October, the Australians played additional matches in the USA and Canada on their return journey. The tour followed one made by an England team to Australia in 1876–77, during which the first matches retrospectively given Test match status were played. None of the 1878 matches had international status, nevertheless the tour proved to be such an outstanding financial and sporting success that the future of international cricket was assured.
1865 was the 79th season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). W. G. Grace made his debut as a first-class player and the new Lancashire County Cricket Club played its first match.
1868 was the 82nd season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). It featured the tour by the team of Australian Aboriginals.
1871 was the 85th season of cricket in England since the foundation of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). Derbyshire County Cricket Club became a first-class club and the last matches were played by Cambridgeshire, who in the days of Bob Carpenter, the first Tom Hayward and George Tarrant had been one of the leading cricket counties.
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John "Jack" Crossland was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket between 1878 and 1887. Crossland was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in county cricket, but critics generally believed that he threw, rather than bowled the ball, a practice illegal in cricket. Contemporaries suggest that, but for the suspicions over his bowling action, Crossland would have played Test cricket for England.
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Cornelius Coward was an English cricketer. A talented fielder and right-handed batsman, popularly known as Kerr, Coward played 49 first-class matches for Lancashire County Cricket Club between 1865 and 1876. He scored 1,210 runs in the middle order for Lancashire, before retiring to play club cricket for his home town of Preston – who he also coached – as well as becoming a cricket umpire for 98 matches, a licensed victualler and a teacher at the Roman Catholic institutions of Stonyhurst College in Lancashire and Clongowes Wood College in Ireland.
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The Central Recreation Ground was a cricket ground in Hastings, East Sussex, used for first-class and List A cricket between 1864 and 1996. The ground was frequently used by Sussex County Cricket Club as one of their outgrounds from 1865; in total, Sussex played 143 first-class and 17 List A matches at the ground. Between 1887 and the 1960s, the Central Recreation Ground also played host to the Hastings & St Leonards cricket festival, which attracted many other teams and notable players. In the early twentieth century, the ground hosted seven Gentlemen v Players matches, and notable players to have played at the ground include W.G. Grace, Don Bradman, Jack Hobbs and Denis Compton. Grace made over 40 appearances at the ground, whilst both Hobbs and Compton broke the record for most first-class centuries in a season at the Central Recreation Ground. The ground also hosted a women's one-day international between England and New Zealand in 1984. In the 1980s, planning permission was given for the ground be demolished, and the land used to build a shopping centre. After the demolition of the ground in 1996, the Priory Meadow Shopping Centre was built on the site.
W. G. Grace is believed to have considered retirement from cricket before the 1878 season after he was seriously injured in a shooting accident the previous autumn which nearly cost him the sight of an eye. Having recovered, he reconsidered and in 1878 played in 33 matches, 24 of which are generally recognised as first-class. His main roles in the season were captain of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club and both match organiser and captain of the United South of England Eleven (USEE). In addition, he represented Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the Gentlemen in the Gentlemen v Players fixture and the South in the North v South series. 1878 was a cold, wet summer and not one of Grace's better seasons as a batsman, but he was very effective in such conditions as a right arm medium pace roundarm bowler and completed a sixth successive "double" by scoring 1,151 runs and taking 152 wickets in the recognised first-class matches.
Walter Raleigh Gilbert was an English amateur cricketer who played first-class cricket for Middlesex and Gloucestershire between 1873 and 1886. A cousin of W. G. Grace, he played for Gloucestershire when, dominated by the Grace family, it was the leading county. Gilbert's best season was 1876, when he scored 205 not out for the county, but he was subsequently less successful. Closely connected with the United South of England Eleven, a professional touring team of which he eventually became secretary, Gilbert was financially affected by a declining interest in such teams. With insufficient income to continue as an amateur he became a professional in 1886, but played only one match before he was caught stealing from teammates in a minor match, ending his first-class career. After serving a 28-day prison sentence Gilbert moved to Canada, where he worked for the Land Titles Office in Calgary while remaining a prominent cricketer. He died aged 70 in 1924, but for nearly 60 years after his death, there seemed to be a conspiracy of silence over his fate.
Frank Silcock was an English first-class cricketer and a founding member of Essex County Cricket Club. Debuting in first-class cricket in 1864, Silcock made 41 appearances in first-class cricket from 1864–1879, scoring 776 runs and taking 79 wickets. Regarded as one of the best professionals of his time to play for Essex, he was instrumental in the foundation of Essex County Cricket Club in 1876 and played for the county until 1887. He later stood as an umpire in first-class matches between 1889–1892.
References
- ↑ Not to be confused with the 18th century Brighton Prince of Wales Ground.
- ↑ "Lennox Gardens". London Gardens Online - Lennox Gardens. London Parks & Gardens Trust. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
- ↑ "Old Prince's Club". The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News . 90 (2349): 82–83. 21 September 1918.
- ↑ "Prince's Cricket Club" . Sheffield and Rotherham Independent. British Newspaper Archive. 5 June 1871. p. 4.
- ↑ Lazenby, John (2013). The strangers who came home : the first Australian cricket tour of England, 1878. London: Bloomsbury. pp. 114–121. ISBN 978-1408842874.
- ↑ Cricinfo piece on Tom Box
- ↑ Chelsea: Cremorne Gardens, Old and New London: Volume 5, 1878, pp 84-100.
