article: Over the course of 43 years, WG (if you don't already know, the initials stand for William Gilbert) scored 54,211 first-class runs, including 124 centuries, and took 2,809 wickets and 876 catches. Friday marks the centenary of the death of the man they call 'the father of the game', the original 'beard that was feared'. WG Grace was born in Downend, near Bristol in 1848 and to many that play the game, he is known as "the greatest". Former England and Gloucestershire wicketkeeper Jack Russell is one who is well aware of the impact of Grace both locally and internationally. Media playback is not supported on this device "I don't think you realise until you delve into it what a big superstar he was," Russell told BBC Inside Out West. "In cricketing terms he was massive. Everything he achieved in those early days in the game set the platform for the history of the game. If you spoke to a lot of people outside of cricket who don't know a great deal about the sport, I'd be surprised if they hadn't at least heard of WG." Grace is widely credited with transforming cricket with his performances for both Gloucestershire and England and his legacy lives on at Nevil Road - 100 years after his death. "I remember playing as a youngster at the County Ground and we used to sleep in sleeping bags in the changing room," added Russell. "There was this room that was always locked but we knew it was full of old dusty memorabilia and in the middle of the night you could sometimes here footsteps and creaking floorboards. Our coach Graham Wiltshire used to say if you lot mess about, WG will come down and get you. I didn't see him but I heard him." Grace made his Test debut against Australia at The Oval in September 1880, scoring 152, and two years later was in the side which lost at the same ground, marking the birth of the Ashes. He made his highest Test score of 170 in 1886, again at The Oval, but in 1892 became the first England captain to surrender the Ashes urn when they were beaten 2-1. In 1895, at the age of 47, he scored 1,000 runs before the end of May, completed his 100th century and eventually totalled 2,336 runs that summer. His score of 318 not out against Yorkshire in 1876 stood as a Gloucestershire record for 128 years until it was beaten by Craig Spearman (341) in 2004. Piers Morgan, former editor of the Daily Mirror and lifelong cricket enthusiast, once nominated WG Grace as the greatest English player of all time. "Boxing gave us Muhammad Ali, football you would have Pele, and in cricket Grace was the greatest. Botham rolled into Flintoff rolled into John Bull," Morgan told BBC Radio 4's Great Lives in 2006. "He had everything. He was physically imposing, he was comfortably the best player of his generation, if not all time. Media playback is not supported on this device "He was there when cricket
summary: For a man who played his cricket in an era of poor pitches and limited time for practice, WG Grace was nothing less than a phenomenon.