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
History of Australian cricket to 1876 steady rate of growth, especially at club level. The sport received a considerable boost when English teams began arriving in the colonies in 1861–62 and especially when the legendary WG Grace himself toured Australia in 1873–74. By 1876, standards in Australia had become very high indeed especially with the emergence of a world-class bowler like Fred Spofforth. Australia was then ready to oppose England on level terms. "For detailed information about early domestic cricket in Australia, see" : Intercolonial cricket in Australia "and" List of Australian intercolonial cricket matches The inaugural English tour of Australia was organised by Messrs Spiers