The game of cricket is played across the world in more than 150 nations. The Test-playing nations are the powerhouses of the sport, while many Associate countries have also taken giant strides in the cricket world. The ICC has tried its level best to take the sport to another level globally.
Before the ICC and other cricket boards took the sport’s control in their hands, cricket was merely a leisure time activity. Nowadays, the youngsters sacrifice a lot in their lives just to get a chance to play international cricket for their country. Earlier also, a man named William Gilbert Grace did this thing.
However, when WG Grace gave up many things in his life just for cricket, the sport was not that popular. Also, the ‘future’ that the young talents see in cricket right now because of the massive investments in the sport was not there then.
The cricket tournament organizers had to work very hard to get a proper sponsor. There was a time when the BCCI had to pay money to Doordarshan so that they would telecast the matches in India. Nowadays, the thing has totally changed.
The broadcasters need to pay thousands of crores to the BCCI just to gain the rights to show the cricket matches in India. However, all of this might not have been possible had WG Grace not worked so hard as he did for the sake of the game’s bright future.
Who is called the Father of Cricket?
As mentioned ahead English cricketer William Gilbert Grace is known as the Father of Cricket. The legendary player was born on 18 August 1848 near Bristol. He lived for 67 years and passed away on 23 October 1915. His grandfather’s name was George Pocock, while Fred Grace and E.M. Grace were his brothers.
When he played cricket, ODI format did not even exist. He played cricket for MCC, Gloucestershire, and London county. He made his Test debut against Australia in 1880 and played his farewell Test versus the same opponents nine years later.
Why is WG Grace called father of cricket?
WG Grace played only 22 Test matches in his cricket career. Still, he is called the Father of Cricket. Any modern era cricket fan would answer that Sachin Tendulkar deserved this tag or a fan older than him would call Sir Donald Bradman as the Father of Cricket.
The reason why WG Grace holds this tag to his name is that he played whopping 44 first-class seasons in English cricket. He played 870 FC games at a time when cricket was not taken so seriously. Still, Grace invested his time and energy to make the sport great.
WG Grace’s contribution to the sport
WG Grace’s contribution was such an incredible one that perhaps no one else might have taken that risk at that time. India was still under England’s reign and we are talking about that time when even the Englishmen were not so rich.
Grace scored 126 centuries and 254 half-centuries in his first-class career. It is said that the great player worked very hard to develop the game in his country. He could perform any skill in the sport.
Be it batting, bowling, fielding, or even wicket-keeping, WG Grace did it all in his legendary career. Thus, he is widely believed as the father of cricket.
As far as Sachin Tendulkar goes, the former Indian batsman is popularly known as the God of Cricket. The reason behind is that he holds a majority of the cricket records in terms of batting. Virat Kohli, who is known as the King Kohli, is closely approaching to his numbers.
However, cricket will never ever reach the phase that it was in during the 1880s. The sole credit of it goes to WG Grace, the Father of Cricket.
