120 years ago today in 1895, William Gilbert (usually referred to as
WG) Grace completed his 100th
hundred for Gloucestershire when playing against near neighbours Somerset at Bristol.
Widely considered to be one of the greatest players to ever
play the game, WG Grace played first class cricket for a record equalling 44
seasons where he excelled as a batsman, bowler and fielder.
As a young man he was also a 440 yard champion hurdler and
also played football for The Wanderers FC. In later years he also took up golf,
bowls and even curling.
Some rare footage of the great man
When reaching his milestone of centuries, his batting
partner, Charlie Townsend, said that as he approached his hundred: "This
was the one and only time I ever saw him flustered..." Eventually Australian
Sammy Woods bowled a full toss which Grace drove to the boundary for four, to
reach his century.
Aged 46 at the start of the season, WG went on to celebrate
what became known as his “Indian Summer” scoring well over 2000 runs with 9
centuries.
Other birthdays and anniversaries today include:
Former Liberal Democrat MP, voted out at the recent
election, Simon Hughes (64)
Irish singer and songwriter Enya (54) ---->
2 years since US R&B singer Donna Summer passed away
after suffering lung cancer.
No comments:
Post a Comment