Edward Grace

The hastily-arranged match between the Australians and an England XI captained by Lord Harris, now deemed to be the first Test staged in England, was won by the home side but produced a thrilling contest which ebbed and flowed to the end

This column is dedicated, not to W G Grace, whose 150th anniversary has been celebrated elsewhere, but to his brothers, who have received less than their share of reflected glory

The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket

In the 1939 Autumn Annual, Revd CJM Godfrey wrote of his memories of attending the first Test in England, at The Oval in September 1880, as a schoolboy

A tale of a comic kidnapping

No cricketer, surely, has ever enjoyed the battle more; none ever argued more with umpires, players and spectators alike; none ever departed more reluctantly from the wicket when batting, or disagreed more verbosely with decisions when bowling than