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 developed a tendency to hit across the line of delivery instead of playing straight. Alfred Pocock recognised this fault and decided that WG and Fred must learn to play straight by using small bats, suitable for their boyhood sizes. It meant that WG and Fred became technically correct batsmen with strong defensive techniques whereas EM remained primarily an attacking batsman. In his "Cricketing Reminiscences" (1899), W. G. Grace emphasised that "cricketers are made by coaching and practice", but he and his brothers were born "in the atmosphere of cricket". Their parents and uncle were "full of enthusiasm for the game"