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 and it was "a common theme of conversation at home". It was in the Downend orchard and as members of their local cricket clubs that Grace and his brothers developed their skills, mainly under the tutelage of Alfred Pocock, who was an exceptional coach. Apart from their cricket and schooling, the brothers lived in the country and roamed freely with other village boys. One of their regular activities, to help local farmers, was stone throwing at birds in the fields and WG later claimed that this was the source of their eventual skills as outfielders. Fred Grace, in particular, became