Gloucestershire County Cricket Club League in 2000. Cricket probably reached Gloucestershire by the end of the 17th century. It is known that the related sport of "Stow-Ball" "aka" "Stob-Ball" was played in the county during the 16th century. In this game, the bat was called a "stave". See Alice B Gomme : "The Traditional Games of England, Scotland and Ireland". A game in Gloucester on 22 September 1729 is the earliest definite reference to cricket in the county. From then until the founding of the county club, very little has been found outside parish cricket. In the early 1840s, Dr Henry Grace and his
Fred Grace debut in the North v South match in 1870 but without much success. Although this fixture did not quite equal Gentlemen v Players in terms of prestige, it was nevertheless the standout event in the pre-international programme because, in theory, it featured all of the best players in England as they were chosen on technical ability alone, not on status. Grace and WG won the game for the South at Lord's in May 1871 when they shared a fourth wicket partnership of 170. WG scored 178, Grace 83 and the next best was 22 by Harry Jupp in a total