GAZETTE & HERALD: A RARE cricket scorebook recording performances by the great W.G. Grace and three members of his family has been unearthed in a garage in Chippenham.

The 1862 scorebook, which will be auctioned at the Jubilee Salerooms in Pewsey next month, is thought to be the earliest original record of the feats of the legendary Gloucestershire and England all-rounder.

It was discovered by Pewsey historian Roger Pope when he was going through a pile of old papers sent to be sold at the village salerooms.

Auctioneer David Harrison had asked Mr Pope to look through the papers and old cricket scorebooks to see if anything was worth putting under the hammer.

Mr Pope said: "As I was flicking through the scorebooks I happened to spot the name W.G. Grace and I realised immediately from the age of the book that this could well be the first time his name had been officially recorded."

Mr Pope also found the name of one of W.G. (William Gilbert) Grace's brothers and a further investigation revealed that a third brother and their father had played in the game too.

From this sort of game of village cricket, Grace, who played for a team from Frenchay near Bristol, went on to become one of cricket's greatest ever players.

Grace was 13 when his team played the match with cricketers from Corsham and Lacock on August 4 and 5 in 1862.

Despite his youth, Grace scored 24 in the first innings, but only managed

to score two runs in the second innings.

Grace's performance and that of his father, Henry, and his brothers Edward and Henry, have been recorded in a fine pencil hand in the well preserved Lillywhite's Cricket Scorebook 1861-62.

Edward made 17 and 16, and took five for 15, while his father, Henry, made 21 and 30, and took nine for 28. W.G's brother Henry did not bat or bowl but took one catch.

In those days strong teams like Grace's West Gloucestershire side would field just 11 men and take on 22 players of lesser ability to make it a more even match.

Peter Wynne-Thomas, secretary of the Association of Cricket Historians and Statisticians, said the scorebook is certain to create considerable interest.

He said: "The number of original scorebooks of this age is pretty rare and to have the Grace names gives it great added value.

"There is bound to be interest from people chasing ancient scorebooks, and from Grace fanatics which could whizz up the price of this item."

Mr Harrison has not put a value on the lot and is prepared to see how much it will bring when it goes up for auction at the Jubilee Salerooms on May 12 at 10.30am.

He said: "It's a highly valued document of social history. It's probably the earliest documented recording of W.G. Grace's cricket career.

"We have gone back in time and estimate that W.G.Grace was only 13 when he played in this game and believe this is the earliest known record of him playing.

"We have no idea what it's worth but there is extremely wide interest including from the MCC, Marylebone Cricket Club.

"It could sell for a few hundred pounds or it could go for thousands."

Virtually every schoolboy was brought up to believe that W.G. Grace was the greatest English cricketer ever.

He scored 54,986 runs, including 126 centuries, at a time when wickets were very poor and every score had to be run because there were no boundaries.

He also took 2,876 wickets and was a fine fielder with a very strong arm.

At the age of 15 he scored 32 against an All England XI and a year later made 170 and 56 not out for the South Wales Club against the Gentlemen of Sussex.

During the course of five days in 1876 he made a total of 839 from just three innings 344 for the MCC v Kent, and 177 and 318 not out for Gloucestershire against Nottingham and Yorkshire.

He made his Test debut at the age of 32 and played in 22 tests from 1880 to 1899. At his debut at the Oval he made 152 runs.

He captained England in five Ashes series.

Dr Grace and his brothers Edward and George are credited with making Gloucestershire a first-class county team.

The county were champions three times and joint champions once between 1873 and 1877.

W.G.Grace gave specifications for the laying of the County Ground in Bristol. He eventually left Gloucestershire and went to play for London's county team.