• Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.

The fiercest of the Graces

neville cardus

International Debutant
I've seen it declared on numerous occasions that, compared to E.M., W.G. Grace was little more than an overgrown patsy.

However, having read (and, thus far, enjoyed) most of Simon Rae's commanding biography of the latter, I'm beginning to believe that, of all the Graces, it's Fred who ought to be deemed the nastiest. He seems always to have looked to bring his substantial fists into the equation when not getting his way -- and it goes without saying that it generally took little persuasion thereafter to ensure that he did.

In contrast, I've just read of E.M., in 1878, dealing commendably with a fair uproar at Old Trafford. A ball was thumped to the ring, where a member of the crowd fielded and lobbed it back to a Gloucestershire fielder.

The two Lancastrian batsmen were crossing unhurriedly as the ball was thrown in and the stumps at one end broken. W.G. immediately appealed to umpire Storer, who, under the impression that it hadn't been a boundary, gave Allan Steel his marching orders.

"No! No!" cried the crowd in its collective adamantine insistence. "A four!"

The matter was disputed fervidly for a while -- until E.M., of all people, strode over to the boundary to establish what really had happened, and, shortly afterwards (directly as a result of E.M.'s intercession), Steel and calm were both restored.

"This," according to the Manchester Guardian, "was as it should be, of course, among gentlemen." Perhaps E.M.'s been served a touch poorly in the past.
 

Top