fours, but nearly finished on the losing side. Sussex, following on, declared at 420 for three with centuries from George Bean and Billy Marlow, who shared an opening partnership of 211, and from Ranjitsinhji. Gloucestershire, set 204 to win in 75 minutes, quickly lost WG and had to settle for a draw with only three wickets left. The Champion, 48 years of age, grey of beard and edging towards corpulence, must have felt like settling Sussex’s hash once and for all. Between 9,000 and 10,000 people packed the Ashley Down ground on a glorious August Monday in 1896 in anticipation of a feast: WG on the one hand, Ranjitsinhji, his successor as the finest batsman in the country, on the other. Things did not begin well for Gloucestershire. Grace opened with his bespectacled son WG junior, who was bowled for a single with only four scored. It was probably the worst move Sussex could have made. By the end of the day a jubilant crowd cheered the Old Man – 193 not out in a total of 341 for three – all the way back to the pavilion. Before a similar-sized crowd on the second day, Fred Tate and Parris struck back, capturing three wickets for the addition of only 14 in the first half hour. WG was then joined by the former Marlborough captain Sidney Kitcat and they raised the 400, Grace 228. The pair added 193 for the ninth wicket before Grace was bowled for 301, with 29 fours in eight hours at the crease. “Probably Grace never played better cricket in his life,” said The Daily Telegraph . “He made very few risky strokes, and absolutely gave nothing that could be called a chance.” Kitcat remained undefeated with 77 – he was carried shoulder-high to the pavilion – and Sussex, responding to 551, were beaten by an innings with less than 15 minutes remaining. For good measure, Grace took three for 23 in the second innings. A hundred followed at Ashley Down in the 1897 August match and there should have been another one a year later. WG was now 50, still basking in the glory of his Gentlemen v Players birthday party at Lord’s in July. The match against Sussex was meandering to a close when Grace, batting down the order and on 93, suddenly declared the innings closed. It appeared that 93 was the only score under 100 he had not made in first-class cricket until then. Soon he was gone from Gloucestershire to his twilight years with London County. He was not yet finished with the holiday games. He was at Aylestone Road, Leicester at Whit in 1903 and with the remnants of London County under the guise of the Gentlemen of England against Surrey on Easter Monday 1905, the occasion of Jack Hobbs’s debut. At Whit in 1906 he scored 64 and 44 not out at Fenner’s against Cambridge University for the bare bones of London County, now aptly styled WG Grace’s XI. Then, nearly half-a-century after his appearance for England against Middlesex in the Marylebone Professionals’ Fund match, WG Grace attended a charity match on Whit Monday 1915 at Catford Bridge to raise money for Belgian refugees. This had been arranged by Archie MacLaren, who was stationed at Catford, and Alec Hearne, who lived there. Hearne invited him to play but he withdrew because he felt unwell on his arrival at the ground. Instead, he offered to take a collection box round and presented a bat to the man of the match, Captain Percy Burke. A photograph shows him putting a coin into the box. Within four months he was dead, at the age of 67. WG was well aware of his obligations to the Bank Holiday crowds. Of his 13 double centuries, three were made at such times and, if the Canterbury Week 344 is included, two of his three triples delighted spectators spending precious days at a cricket match. His departure from Gloucestershire left a holiday void but it was WG in Holiday Mood 40