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- W. G. Grace is believed to have considered retirement from cricket before the 1878 season after he was seriously injured in a shooting accident the previous autumn which nearly cost him the sight of an eye. Having recovered, he reconsidered and in 1878 played in 33 matches, 24 of which are generally recognised as first-class. His main roles in the season were captain of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club and both match organiser and captain of the United South of England Eleven (USEE). In addition, he represented Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the Gentlemen in the Gentlemen v Players fixture and the South in the North v South series. 1878 was a cold, wet summer and not one of Grace's better seasons as a batsman, but he was very effective in such conditions as a right arm medium pace roundarm bowler and completed a sixth successive "double" by scoring 1,151 runs and taking 152 wickets in the recognised first-class matches. Grace was always notorious for gamesmanship and moneymaking during his cricket career and he cut an especially controversial figure in 1878. After the season ended, he and his brother E. M. Grace were called to account by the Gloucestershire membership and a special enquiry was ordered to investigate their blatant "shamateurism". As amateur players, they should only have been claiming reasonable expenses for travel and accommodation but they were accused of claiming inflated expenses and appearance fees. The matter came to a head after Surrey County Cricket Club refused to meet their expense claims when Gloucestershire played at The Oval in June. Prior to the same match, Grace was accused of "kidnapping" the Australian player Billy Midwinter when he insisted that Midwinter was contractually bound to play for Gloucestershire and not the Australian touring team. A furious altercation between Grace and members of the Australian party took place in front of bystanders outside The Oval, but Grace got his way and Midwinter played for Gloucestershire. The season was notable for the MCC v Australians match at Lord's in May. Grace played for MCC in the match that, completed in a single day, is considered a milestone in cricket history. In July, Gloucestershire made their first visit to Old Trafford to play Lancashire and the match was immortalised by Francis Thompson in his idyllic poem "At Lord's". On a personal level, Grace was still unqualified as a doctor and had a growing family to support, his daughter Bessie being born in May. When not playing cricket, he had to study a backlog of medical theory. He did not qualify as a doctor until the end of the following year. He then needed a practice and this was effectively purchased for him by MCC in 1878 after they launched a National Testimonial on his behalf, though the underlying and hopeful purpose of the appeal was to terminate Grace's embarrassing mercenary activity. (en)
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- W. G. Grace is believed to have considered retirement from cricket before the 1878 season after he was seriously injured in a shooting accident the previous autumn which nearly cost him the sight of an eye. Having recovered, he reconsidered and in 1878 played in 33 matches, 24 of which are generally recognised as first-class. His main roles in the season were captain of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club and both match organiser and captain of the United South of England Eleven (USEE). In addition, he represented Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the Gentlemen in the Gentlemen v Players fixture and the South in the North v South series. 1878 was a cold, wet summer and not one of Grace's better seasons as a batsman, but he was very effective in such conditions as a right arm medium pace round (en)
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