William Gilbert "W. G." Grace was an English amateur cricketer who was important in the development of the sport and is widely considered one of its greatest-ever players. Universally known as "W. G.", 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.
Walter Reginald "Wally" Hammond was an English first-class cricketer who played for Gloucestershire in a career that lasted from 1920 to 1951. Beginning as a professional, he later became an amateur and was appointed captain of England. Primarily a middle-order batsman, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack described him in his obituary as one of the four best batsmen in the history of cricket. He was considered to be the best English batsman of the 1930s by commentators and those with whom he played; they also said that he was one of the best slip fielders ever. Hammond was an effective fast-medium pace bowler and contemporaries believed that if he had been less reluctant to bowl, he could have achieved even more with the ball than he did.
Gilbert Laird Jessop was an English cricket player, often reckoned to have been the fastest run-scorer cricket has ever known. He was Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1898.
Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara is a cricket commentator, former cricketer and captain of the Sri Lankan national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. Sangakkara scored 28,016 runs in international cricket across all formats in a career that spanned 15 years. At retirement, he was the second-highest run-scorer in ODI cricket and sixth-highest run scorer in Test cricket.
Desmond Leo Haynes is a West Indian cricketer and cricket coach. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1991. Haynes formed a formidable partnership with Gordon Greenidge for the West Indies cricket team in Test cricket during the 1980s. Between them they managed 16 century stands, four in excess of 200. The pair made 6482 runs while batting together in partnerships, the third highest total for a batting partnership in Test cricket history. Haynes favoured a more measured approach to batting. He compiled 7487 runs in 116 Test matches at an average of 42.29, his highest Test innings of 184 coming against England in 1980. He is one of the few Test batsman to have been dismissed handled the ball, falling in this fashion against India on 24 November 1983. He is also one of the few players to have scored a century on an ODI debut.
Denagamage Praboth Mahela de Silva Jayawardene, known as Mahela Jayawardene, is a Sri Lankan cricket coach and former cricketer. Jayawardene made his Test cricket debut in 1997 and his One Day International (ODI) debut the following season. In 2006 he made the highest ever score by a Sri Lankan in Test cricket, scoring 374 in the second Test of Sri Lanka's home series against South Africa. He has a test cricket average of just under 50 and a One Day average in the 30s. He is the first player in the history of Sri Lankan cricket to score over 10,000 Test runs. He is also the second Sri Lankan player to score more than 10,000 runs in ODIs.
Thomas William Graveney was an English first-class cricketer, representing his country in 79 Test matches and scoring over 4,800 runs. In a career lasting from 1948 to 1972, he became the 15th player to score one hundred first-class centuries; he was the first batsman beginning his career after the Second World War to reach this milestone. He played for Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, and helped Worcestershire win the county championship for the first time in their history. His achievements for England after being recalled in 1966 have been described as "the stuff of legend." Graveney was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1953, captained England on one occasion and was awarded the OBE while still playing.
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club in 2005 are playing their cricket in Division One of both the County Championship and totesport League. They started the Championship at 18–1 to win it, and as one of the teams most likely to be relegated from it. So they were—only their five draws prevented them from finishing bottom, and they were the only team to lose to bottom-placed Glamorgan. By the end of August, they were relegated, with three games to spare. In the National League, they were never better than sixth at any time during the season, and lost three games in succession to be ninth before the final round of matches. They won their last match, but were still relegated due to a worse net run rate than Lancashire. They were thus the first club to suffer double relegation since Leicestershire in 2003. Their Twenty20 and C&G Trophy campaigns ended almost as early as they could have done—Gloucestershire did get past the first round of the C&G Trophy, beating Berkshire, but were knocked out by Surrey.
Thomas George Wass, known as Tom Wass, was a Nottinghamshire bowler who is best remembered, along with Albert Hallam, for bowling that gave Nottinghamshire a brilliant County Championship win in 1907. Wass also holds the record for the most wickets taken for Nottinghamshire - 1633 for 20.34 each.
George Frederick Grace was an English first-class cricketer active from 1866 to 1880 who played for Gloucestershire and the United South of England Eleven (USEE). He played in one retrospectively recognised Test match for England. He was born in Downend, near Bristol and died in Basingstoke, Hampshire. A right-handed batsman who bowled right arm fast roundarm, he appeared in 195 matches that are generally rated first-class for statistical purposes. In these matches, Grace scored 6,906 runs with a highest score of 189*. An outstanding fielder and occasional wicket-keeper, he held 170 catches and completed three stumpings. He took 329 wickets with a best performance of eight for 43.
Craig Murray Spearman is a former New Zealand cricketer who played 19 Tests and 51 One Day Internationals for New Zealand from 1995–2001.
Michael Klinger is an Australian former first-class cricketer, who held the record for the most runs scored in the Big Bash League when he retired in 2019.
William Thomas Stuart Porterfield is a Northern Irish cricketer and former captain of the Ireland cricket team. He played first-class cricket for Gloucestershire and Warwickshire. A left-handed batsman, he has played for Ireland since 2006, and has captained Ireland at all levels from Under-13 upwards. During Afghanistan T20I series in March 2017, he passed 1,000 runs in T20Is and became the first player for Ireland to do so. In May 2018, he was named as the captain of Ireland's squad for their first ever Test match, against Pakistan.
Kevin Joseph O'Brien is an Irish cricketer who plays for Ireland, Leinster and Railway Union Cricket Club and has played for several English county cricket clubs.
Edward ("Ted") Sainsbury was an English cricketer who represented, and captained, Somerset County Cricket Club in the late 19th century. During a 10-year first-class cricket career, he also represented Gloucestershire and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).
Miles Coope, born at Gildersome, Yorkshire, on 18 November 1916 and died also at Gildersome on 5 July 1974, played first-class cricket for three seasons after the Second World War for Somerset.
Alistair Duncan Brown is a former English cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club, before moving to Nottinghamshire for the 2009 season. He was nicknamed "Lordy", in allusion to Ted Dexter because of his big-hitting, confident batting style. He was a right-hand bat and occasional right-arm off-break bowler, who made 16 One Day International appearances for England between 1996 and 2001, with a best of 118.
Edmund John "Ned" Eckersley, is an English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper. He was a core player of Leicestershire from 2011–2018. After his release from Leicestershire he signed for Durham.
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.
Ian Andrew Cockbain is an English cricketer who currently plays for Gloucestershire. A right handed batsman and right hand medium pace bowler he made his first-class debut for Gloucestershire against Derbyshire in August 2011. Cockbain joined Gloucestershire in 2010 on a two-year deal after impressing opening for MCC young cricketers.