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 England but one southern player who had faith in them was Fred Grace. Operating on a freelance basis for a match fee, he played against the Australians in their opening match for a club team in Southampton and then for three others in Manchester, Northampton and Harrogate. Importantly for the Australians, Grace was a go-between from them to WG who, in the words of Malcolm Knox, "did not belong to (any Lord's) clique". WG, as always, was pragmatically alert to financial opportunity and offered them a match against Gloucestershire. This broke the Lord's embargo and Harris soon relented. The Gloucestershire