Gloucestershire County Cricket Club

Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, founded in 1870, is one of 18 first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Gloucestershire. The team played its first senior match in 1870, under the captaincy of W. G. Grace.

Beginning with Grace, and his brothers E. M. and Fred, many great players have represented Gloucestershire, including Gilbert Jessop, Charlie Parker, Tom Goddard, Wally Hammond, Tom Graveney, Zaheer Abbas, Mike Procter, Jack Russell, Courtney Walsh, and Muttiah Muralitharan. The club has had two notable periods of success: in the 1870s, when it was unofficially acclaimed as the Champion County on at least three occasions; and from 1999 to 2006, when it won seven limited overs trophies, notably a 'double double' in 1999 and 2000 (the Benson and Hedges Cup and the C&G Trophy in both seasons), and the Sunday League in 2000.

Most of Gloucestershire's home games are played at the Bristol County Ground in the Bishopston area of north Bristol. Traditionally, the county has staged cricket festivals in Cheltenham and Gloucester, these matches being played at the College Ground in Cheltenham, and on Archdeacon Meadow at the King's School in Gloucester.

Cricket probably reached Gloucestershire by the end of the 17th century. It is known that the related sport of "Stow-Ball" aka "Stob-Ball" was played in the county during the 16th century. In this game, the bat was called a "stave". See Alice Gomme: The Traditional Games of England, Scotland and Ireland.

A game in Gloucester on 22 September 1729 is the earliest definite reference to cricket in the county. From then until the founding of the county club, very little has been found outside parish cricket.

In the early 1840s, Dr Henry Grace and his brother-in-law Alfred Pocock founded the Mangotsfield Cricket Club which merged in 1846 with the West Gloucestershire Cricket Club, whose name was adopted until 1867, after which it became the Gloucestershire County Cricket Club. Grace hoped that Gloucestershire would join the first-class county clubs but the situation was complicated in 1863 by the formation of a rival club called the Cheltenham and Gloucestershire Cricket Club.

Dr Grace's club played Gloucestershire's initial first-class match versus Surrey at Durdham Down in Bristol on 2, 3 & 4 June 1870. Gloucestershire joined the (unofficial) County Championship at this time but the existence of the Cheltenham club seems to have forestalled the installation of its "constitutional trappings". The Cheltenham club was wound up in March 1871 and its chief officials accepted positions in the hierarchy of Gloucestershire. So, although the exact details and dates of the county club's foundation are uncertain, it has always been assumed that the year was 1870 and the club celebrated its centenary in 1970.

What is certain is that Dr Grace was able to form the county club because of its playing strength, especially his three sons W. G., E. M. and Fred.