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 August, at Clifton College. Gloucestershire won a low-scoring match by 109 runs after batting first. They totalled 127 (Grace 26) and 137 (Grace 6) which were modest scores, but Nottinghamshire's replies amounted only to 84 and 71. Grace produced another fine bowling performance with figures of 5–29 and 6–35 against one of the strongest batting sides in England. Alfred Shaw was unable to play for Nottinghamshire. In a three-day match starting on Thursday, 15 August, the England XI defeated Gloucestershire at The Oval by 6 wickets after Grace had won the toss for his county and decided to bat. They