Bloomsbury Sport

All this proves Grace was the best batter for three straight decades by a huge margin, and it is not even close. But here is my favourite stat ever. In 1871, 52 first-class matches were played in England. That includes County cricket, university, Gentlemen v Players and other nonsense games that had a first-class status that summer. All the other batters combined made seven hundreds. Grace made 10.

when you are looking at Root’s sweep, Tendulkar going straight, Miandad’s cover drive, Sobers’ slashing square or Bradman’s late cut, that’s Grace. He built the shots you love.

He isn’t alone, there really hasn’t been two great batters in terms of father-son. Perhaps the closest are Hanif Mohammad and his son Shoaib or Vijay Manjrekar and Sanjay. With all due respect to both sons, neither are considered greats. Don Bradman’s son, John, who at the age of 18 – instead of being fast-tracked through Adelaide’s cricket scene – was contemplating changing his name. Ultimately, he would, in his 30s.