WG Grace's chilly farewell

	WG Grace was still playing for England when in his fifties © Getty Images Enlarge
Related Links Players/Officials: Sydney Busher | W.G. Grace | Henry Keigwin Matches: Surrey v Gentlemen of England at The Oval Teams: London County

We have become accustomed to the season opener in England being played in less than glorious sunshine, especially since the volume of cricket has led to it being brought back nearer the beginning of April than the end. Until relatively recently, the season began in late April, and even then it was not uncommon for the early games to take place in almost arctic conditions.

In 1908 the authorities took the decision to begin on April 20, a decision brought about by a late Easter and a hope that an Easter Monday start would attract a decent crowd. The only match scheduled was that between Surrey and Gentlemen of England at The Oval. While the game itself was uneventful, it was to be the final one in the career of WG Grace, some 43 years and 865 matches after his debut.

Grace, who was by then almost 60, had been in semi-retirement for several seasons following the downgrading of the status of his London County side. Such was his passion for the game that he kept his hand in with regular club cricket and the occasional first-class outing. The last of his 124 hundreds had been in 1904, and in 15 matches since then he had scored 510 runs at 21.24.

By his own high standards that was poor, but when his age and physical state were taken into consideration, it was impressive, and in 1907 he had still managed three hundreds in club cricket. He readily accepted the invitation of the Surrey committee to bring down a side for the season opener in 1908.

The game at The Oval got underway on time, even though the ground was covered in sleet an hour before the mid-day start. But before long a combination of sleet and snow, allied to bitter cold, sent the players back into the warmth of the pavilion for half an hour.

A surprisingly good crowd somehow braved the conditions, and they were rewarded with some enterprising cricket as Surrey raced to 381 for 8 in four hours. Grace did little chasing, setting up his position in the slips, from where he never moved other than to bowl two overs.

The second day was pretty much the same, dogged by poor light and bitter cold. After Surrey had been polished off for 390, Grace opened the innings with Henry Keigwin, and when rain stopped play half an hour later, Gentlemen of England were 21 for 3. Grace, however, remained, and he played a stonewalling innings of 15 in an hour and a half before being bowled by Sydney Busher, a brisk seamer from Solihull. It was the first wicket of Busher's short and otherwise undistinguished career. The Guardian praised Grace for watching the ball closely, while noting he had "lost much of his hitting power and is, of course, slow between the wickets".

Gentlemen of England were bowled out for 219, and then, following on, were dismissed for 130 in a little under two hours, losing by an innings and 42 runs. In all, the game had lasted just over nine hours.

	WG Grace takes centre stage in his penultimate game, in July 1914 © ESPNcricinfo Ltd Enlarge

But while his side offered little more than "feeble resistance", according to the Times, Grace managed to bow out on something of a personal high. He made 25 at around a run-a-minute, and "his driving and pulling was an object lesson to many a young player … he put plenty of power into his strokes, and his play was really wonderful considering his age. He was seldom at fault in his timing, and his placing generally was very accurate." He was again dismissed by Busher, and headed off to a smattering of applause from barely a hundred spectators.

Grace wasn't quite finished. On June 26 he made his final hundred at any level, 111 for London County against Whitgift Wanderers, and he also took seven wickets in the match for good measure.

In August he made his last appearance at Lord's, the scene of so many of his great innings, for MCC and Ground against Dorset. He scored 33 and took 3 for 34 but injured his foot and missed out on a second innings. A keen compiler of his own records, he ruefully wrote that the injury robbed him of his 1000 runs for the season.

After that summer he played regular club cricket but spent more time playing golf, bowling, and in the winter, curling and following the beagles. His final innings was for Eltham against Grove Park on July 25, 1914, when, aged 66, he scored an unbeaten 69. A fortnight later, on August 8, he took to the field for the last time, although he neither batted or bowled.

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Bibliography
WG Grace - A Life by Simon Rae (Faber and Faber, 1998)
WG by Robert Low (Richard Cohen Books, 1997)