W G Grace's record alone of more than 54,000 first class runs earned during 44 seasons makes him one of the millennium's finest cricketers. Grace completely dominated during the Victorian era and even opened the batting for England aged 50.

There are few people still alive who remember seeing him play but his 839 runs, including two triple centuries, scored in just eight days in 1876, prove what a talent he must have been.

At 18 years old, he scored 224 not out for England against Surrey during which he left to win a quarter-mile hurdles race at Crystal Palace in South London.

Grace may have been a great cricketer and a devoted family man, but, according to Wisden, he wasn't a particularly bright man. "A hand of whist appears to have marked the limit of his capacity for cerebration," it was written in the cricket bible.

Although he did compete as a runner, he was not a natural athlete and a large pot-belly, as well as his long beard, became his trademark features.

Cricket is traditionally a gentleman's game but Grace used to use all sorts of gamesmanship, though he remained within the rules, to gain the upper hand. He has gone down in history as an amateur, but nevertheless earned a great deal of money from the game. During his first tour of Australia in 1873/74, he is said to have taken a £1,500 fee from tour organizers, well over £100,000 pounds (about US$150,000) in today's terms.

Grace's impressive presence however, more than any other single factor, made the sport a worldwide game and his fame is such that his initials are immediately recognizable to cricket lovers.