He began his cricket career for Derbyshire in the 1909 season, making his debut against Lancashire.
He was moved up the batting order for the first innings in his next game but did not capitalise on it.
Grainger made his return in the first half of the 1921 season, at the age of 34 and took 4-91 bowling against Somerset.
He played one more match in a season when Derbyshire finished in twelfth place in the County Championship.
He was a left-handed batsman who played 9 innings in 5 first-class games with a top score of 10 and an average of 6.0.