W. G. Grace with the English cricket team in Australia in 1873–74

W. G. Grace visited Australia in 1873–74 as captain of "W.G. Grace's XI".[1] On the morning of the team's departure from Southampton, he responded to well-wishers by saying that his team "had a duty to perform to maintain the honour of English cricket, and to uphold the high character of English cricketers".[2] But both his and the team's performance fell well short of this goal. The tour was not a success and the only positive outcome was the fact of the tour having taken place, ten years after the previous one, as it "gave Australian cricket a much needed fillip".[3] Most of the problems lay with Grace himself and his "overbearing personality" which quickly exhausted all personal goodwill towards him.[4] There was also bad feeling within the team itself because Grace, who normally got on well with professional players, enforced the class divide throughout the tour.[5] In terms of results, the team fared reasonably well following a poor start in which they were beaten by both Victoria and New South Wales. They played 15 matches in all but none are recognised as first-class.[1]

References

  1. "Tour itinerary". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 November 2008.
  2. Rae, p.149.
  3. Rae, p.188.
  4. Rae, p.189.
  5. Rae, p.190.

Bibliography

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