W. G. Grace them against Australia, and was an automatic selection for England at home, but his only Test-playing tour of Australia was that of 1891–92. Grace's most significant Test was England v Australia in 1882 at The Oval. Thanks to Spofforth who took 14 wickets in the match, Australia won by 7 runs and the legend of The Ashes was born immediately afterwards. Grace scored only 4 and 32 but he has been held responsible for "firing up" Spofforth. This came about through a typical piece of gamesmanship by Grace when he effected an unsporting, albeit legal, run out of Sammy Jones.
Australian cricket team in England in 1882 his seven dismissals were clean bowled. Despite Spofforth's excellent bowling, England had established a first-innings lead of 38, being all out for 101. Stumps were called at the end of England's first innings. The second day began with Australia beginning their second innings. The opening pair of Alick Bannerman and Hugh Massie fared much better than in the first innings, putting on 66 for the first wicket - more than the whole team's total in the first innings. The loss of Massie triggered a mini-collapse with Australia losing 4 for 13 over the next few overs before captain Billy Murdoch