Basil Arthur Firebrace Grieve (28 May 1864 – 19 November 1917) was an English amateur cricketer who played in two retrospectively-recognised

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1899. Those were his only first-class appearances and he was never a member of any

county team A county is a geographic region within Gaelic games, controlled by a county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and originally based on the 32 counties of Ireland as they were in 1884. While the administrative geography of Ireland has ...

. He was born in Kilburn,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

, and died in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

. Grieve was a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...

and a right-arm fast medium bowler with an underarm action."The English Cricketers in South Africa"
''Cricket'', issue 204, 25 April 1889, p. 71. He was educated at Harrow and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

. He became a wine merchant by trade. He played cricket at school and took part in the

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

v Harrow match at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

in 1883. He became a member of

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

in 1885.

Tour of South Africa, 1888–89

In 1888, Sir Donald Currie agreed to sponsor the first English cricket team to visit South Africa."The English team for the Cape"
''Cricket'', issue 198, 29 November 1888, p. 449. The 15-man tour party included only nine players who were registered with county clubs and had played in first-class matches. Grieve was one of six additional players who made the numbers up. The team was called Major Warton's XI after its manager, Major R. G. Warton, another occasional player. The

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

was future Hollywood actor

C. Aubrey Smith Sir Charles Aubrey Smith (21 July 1863 – 20 December 1948) was an English Test cricketer who became a stage and film actor, acquiring a niche as the officer-and-gentleman type, as in the first sound version of ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' (1937) ...

, who was then the captain of

Sussex County Cricket Club Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Sussex. Its limited overs team is called the Sussex Sharks. The c ...

."The English team in South Africa"
''Cricket'', issue 200, 25 April 1889, p. 1. Only two matches, both against a team called the South African XI, were eleven-a-side. These were subsequently recognised as the first

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Test matches. They were played at the

St George's Oval St George's Park Cricket Ground (also known as St George's Park, Crusaders Ground or simply Crusaders) is a cricket ground in St George's Park,South Africa. It is the home of the Port Elizabeth Cricket Club, one of the oldest cricket clubs in So ...

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

and the

Newlands Cricket Ground Newlands Cricket Ground (known as Six Gun Grill Newlands for sponsorship reasons) in Cape Town is a South African cricket ground. It is the home of the Cape Cobras, who play in the Sunfoil Series, Momentum 1 Day Cup and RamSlam Pro20 competit ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

; England won both convincingly.

Harry Altham Harry Surtees Altham (30 November 1888 – 11 March 1965) was an English cricketer who became an important figure in the game as an administrator, historian and coach. His ''Wisden'' obituary described him as "among the best known personalities ...

said the standard of the England team was "about that of a weak county". Grieve took part in both matches and in three

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is bot ...

, twice

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

, scored a total of 40 runs with a best score of 14*. He did not bowl. Grieve remained in South Africa for a time after the tour ended and is known to have travelled to

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

with his colleague

Monty Bowden Montague Parker Bowden (1 November 1865 – 19 February 1892) was an English first-class cricketer, a wicket-keeper, who played two Test matches against South Africa in 1888/89. Bowden was born in Stockwell, Surrey, and educated at Dulwich Col ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grieve, Basil 1864 births 1917 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge England Test cricketers English cricketers People educated at Harrow School People from Kilburn, London