W.G. Grace's First-Class Debut — Gentlemen v Players of the South, June 1865

The Gentlemen v Players matches were the showcase fixtures of the English summer. Selection for the South side at the Oval, the match a tier below the great Lord's encounter, was the recognised route by which young amateurs proved their right to the senior fixture.

Grace had impressed during a tour with the Lansdown club in 1864 and had played for the South Wales club at Brighton. E.M. Grace's involvement in the 1862 Down End feats and his place in the All-England Eleven gave the Grace name a currency among selectors that opened the door for the younger brother.

Grace had been playing serious cricket since the age of nine, drilled by his father Henry and by his uncle Alfred Pocock on the family's home ground at Downend in Gloucestershire. By 1864 he was already scoring runs and taking wickets in important non-first-class fixtures. The 1865 invitation came largely because his elder brother E.M. Grace was already a household name and the selectors trusted the family pedigree. W.G. was picked as a fast roundarm bowler who could bat lower in the order. The match itself was a low-scoring affair on a difficult Oval pitch. Grace and Walker bowled unchanged in both Players innings, sharing the wickets between them. Grace's match analysis read 13 for 84. With the bat he made 23 in the first innings and 12 not out in the second. The Players, with George Parr, Tom Hayward and George Anderson among them, won by 118 runs. The result mattered less than the impression Grace made: tall, gangling, already strong-shouldered and accurate, he was, several reporters wrote, the best schoolboy bowler ever seen at the Oval. Within twelve months he would score his first first-class hundred — 224 not out for England v Surrey at the same ground. Within four years he was the first name on every team sheet.

“He bowled fast round-armed and was very straight; with the bat, on a wicket which gave the bowler every help, he batted with patience beyond his years.”

“Master W. Grace is the find of the season, and we shall hear much more of him.”

Within a fortnight Grace was selected for the senior Gentlemen v Players fixture at Lord's. By July 1866 he had scored his maiden first-class hundred, 224 not out at the Oval. He went on to score 54,211 first-class runs and take 2,809 first-class wickets, both records for decades.