Grace Morgan

Born on 5th May 1909 in Richmond-upon-Thames, Surrey, former Test player for England, Grace Angela Morgan.

Grace Morgan was the reserve wicket keeper for England on the tour to Australia and New Zealand in 1934/35 and the understudy to the brilliant Betty Snowball. Grace played no Test matches and rarely filled in. She played against Deniliquin, Wollongong, Newcastle, Canberra, Queensland, Leeton and Junee in Australia. In New Zealand she played against Auckland, Wellington, Wanganui, Canterbury, Otago and Invercargill.

World War Two brought things to a halt and then Grace was again the understudy to Snowball in the 1948/49 tour of Australia and New Zealand, playing some of the more unusual country towns in Australia, but no Tests. However, for the Test against New Zealand Grace finally made her Test debut at the age of forty, when she donned the gloves for England at Eden Park in Auckland.

Batting at number six, Grace performed a rescue mission with Hazel Sanders. The White Ferns bowlers had England in all sorts, but Grace (37) and Hazel (54) helped England to 204. She took no catches and made only 7 runs in the second innings with England cruising to victory by 185 runs.

Grace played one more Test, at home in 1951 against Mollie Dive’s Australians at the Oval. She took two catches, Val Batty and the Aussie skipper.

As an umpire, Grace Morgan stood in one Test match, England versus New Zealand at Worcester in 1954.