The 1863-64 tour:
The outward voyage took 60 days. The first match was on new year's day 1864. All matches were against teams of 22. England were undefeated, winning 10 matches and drawing 6. There were also single-wicket matches if the match ended early - Grace single-handedly took on 6 men of Maryborough and beat them, scoring 106.. There was also a mini-tour of New Zealand. Grace was hampered for much of the tour with an injured hand.
The players got back in mid June, except for two - Caffyn, who got a 3-year contract (at £300 p.a.) as coach to the Melbourne club, and Grace, who was said to be "matrimonially inclined" and would be staying another month.
Carpenter topped the averages with 22.
Illustrated Sporting News and Theatrical and Musical Review - Saturday 06 August 1864:
Some of the above averages may seem small when compared with those of the same players in the country ; but then it must be borne in mind that the turfless grounds in Australia do not admit' of run-getting as in our own cricket-fields, and in many of the later matches the rain had so soddened the earth as to place good play almost out of the question
As for the ball, the Bristol Daily Post - Monday 17 October 1864, after printing his scores for the previous 4 years (including 13 scored for No Bufoonery v Marlborough College), added "Out in Australia, Mr. E. M. Grace, though not playing with his usual success, had five bats, two of them with silver plates, and
two balls, with gold letters, presented to him."
The ball in the picture looks metallic to me - the whiteness coming from the reflection of the protective paper, and it appears the background (including someone's face) is reflected in it.
Edit: Here's another view of it from
here. The text says "Half of the leather cricket ball is covered in engraved silver-plate. It reads “Presented to E.M. Grace. Esq. For His Excellent Wicket Keeping Melbourne & Ballarat 1864”
As to white v. red, I have a vague memory of hearing/reading that a cricket ball would be white (like a baseball) but for the coats of lacquer applied to it (which also makes it harder than a baseball).