westozfalcon wrote:It's not all about statistics. Sure they play a significant part but you also have to consider a player's influence, stature and legacy. There's enough anecdotal evidence to suggest W G Grace is a cricketing great.
I sometimes think we live in an era where people think if you don't see something on TV or YouTube it never happened.
The Statistics actually back up the Greatness of WG. Looking up Statsguru for most career runs will reveal the following.
WG Grace begun his first class career in 1865. Of all the leading runscorers in first class cricket the closest to his era was R Abel who had his first match in 1881, sixteen years after WG. A list of the leading runscorers of all time shows very few players who played in the 19th century. WG's average of 39 covers a guy who started 16 years later as Abel averaged 35. The rest of his contempories do not appear on the list even the talented Arthur Shewsbury or WGs talented brother Fred Grace.
WG also claimed a shitload of wickets as well. There is a reason why the gates say 'The Great Cricketer'.
regards,
REB