WG Grace (1880-1899)

Born 18 July 1848 at Downend, Bristol, England Died 23 October 1915 at Mottingham, Kent, England
WG (William Gilbert) Grace was the father of modern cricket. Tall, strong and famously bearded his play was far advanced from those of his contemporaries. He compiled the first two triple-centuries in first-class cricket and was the first man to score 100 first-class centuries. His Test cricket was limited as he played in an era in which there was little international cricket, but he made his mark with 152 on debut against Australia at The Oval in 1880.
He played first-class cricket for 43 years from 1865 to 1908, scoring over 54 000 runs and taking over 2 800 wickets with his round-arm mostly slow medium-pace bowling. He was a medical doctor by profession and almost certainly the highest paid ‘amateur’ sportsman of all-time. He came from a great cricketing family and his brothers EM and Fred both played for Gloucestershire for many years as well as appearing in Test cricket.
M Runs HS Avg 100 Ct Wkts Avg BB 5I
Tests 22 1098 170 32.29 2 39 9 26.22 2-12 0