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
W. G. Grace in the 1878 English cricket season quarrel". The argument was serious enough and was fuelled by a long-standing "antagonism" between Grace and Conway which dated back to Grace's 1873 visit to Australia. At one point, Grace called the Australians "a damned lot of sneaks", though he later apologised in a letter to Gregory. In the end, Grace got his way and Midwinter stayed with Gloucestershire for the rest of the season, although he did not play for the county against the Australians in September, due to a hand injury. Grace may have felt pleased that he had got his man but he did not get his