In their first fixture against the Metropolitan Police, Graces skipper Hardisty chose to bat on what looked like a perfect batting wicket. The Grace's openers made a cautious but steady start against some accurate seam bowling before Camberwell was first to depart for 19 quickly followed by Whitmore for an uncharacteristic duck. Stockinger and Hope began to lay about them making the Police attack look very ordinary. After Stockinger's dismissal Mendis found the bowling much to his liking and a score of 260-plus looked on the cards until trying a sweep the ball took an edge and left Mendis with a nasty cut just above the eye, causing his retirement. Hope continued his fine knock until he was stumped for 69. Whereupon the innings lost a little of its momentum and a score of 219-8 was to prove too few.
However, when the Police batted Grace's were soon among the wickets, Bielby's late swing accounting for one opener and Shofiq with his 200th wicket for the club the other. With a change of bowling wickets continued to fall, and with the Police at 89-5 it looked a fair cop but a dropped catch and a controversial stumping decision that went against Grace's saw the Police make a remarkable recovery to reach their target for the loss of 7 wickets. Two defeats in two games may seem a poor start to the season but it should be recognised that Grace's have made great strides and now play teams that are far stronger than in their early days. As they enter a league this season they are now a team to reckoned with.