Derbyshire County Cricket Club

History

Earliest cricket in Derbyshire

Cricket may not have reached Derbyshire until the 18th century. The earliest reference to cricket in the county is a match in September 1757 between Wirksworth and Sheffield Cricket Club at Brampton Moor, near Chesterfield.

Origin of club

An ad hoc team of players from Derbyshire travelled to Kent and London in July 1870. They played against the Gentlemen of Kent at the Angel Ground, and Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) at Lord's, winning both matches.

Later in the year, on 4 November, Derbyshire County Cricket Club was founded. This was the outcome of a meeting in the Derby Guildhall. The Earl of Chesterfield, who had played for and against the All England Eleven, was elected as the first President. G. H. Strutt was the Vice-President, and Walter Boden, who had campaigned for the club's foundation for three years, was the Secretary. Also present at the meeting was Boden's brother, Henry. When Chesterfield died the following year, William Jervis became President.

Derbyshire's opening season was 1871. The team played its inaugural first-class match against Lancashire at Old Trafford on 26 and 27 May. In doing so, they became part of the (then unofficial) County Championship. They defeated Lancashire by an innings and 11 runs, after dismissing them for only 25 in their first innings.

Club history

Although the club had some good results in its early seasons, it struggled for the most part and before the 1888 season, following a run of disastrous results, Derbyshire was demoted from first-class status, which was then based on the number of matches against other teams of similar standing. Derbyshire recovered first-class status in 1894 and rejoined the County Championship in 1895.

Although the county then had a quite strong team due to the bowling of George Davidson, Joseph Hulme and George Porter and the batting and wicket-keeping of William Storer, William Chatterton and Bagshaw, within three years they had hit rock-bottom, going through 1897 without a win due to their best bowlers losing their powers.

From this point up to 1925, Derbyshire were perennially among the weakest counties, losing every single match in 1920 despite the efforts of Sam Cadman and Arthur Morton, persevering professionals. From 1926, the nucleus of a good team emerged around some doughty batting from Denis Smith, Stan Worthington and George Pope. Pope's bowling and that of his brother Alf, leg spinner Tommy Mitchell and seam bowler Bill Copson took the team to their one and so far only Championship victory in 1936. They won 13 of their 28 matches outright and five on first innings. Worthington, Les Townsend, Smith and Alderman all passed 1,000 runs and Copson and Mitchell took over 100 wickets, with Alf Pope taking 94. Charlie Elliott, who later became a Test umpire and selector, was another member of this team which was captained by AW Richardson.

There have been more downs than ups in post-war years. Though runs came regularly from Arnold Hamer and less consistently from the West Indian Laurie Johnson and captain Donald Carr, the batting remained the weak point right up to the beginning of covered pitches in the 1980s. However, a series of seam bowlers served England as well as Derbyshire. The list began with Copson and continued with Cliff Gladwin, Les Jackson, Harold Rhodes, Alan Ward, Mike Hendrick and, most recently, Devon Malcolm and Dominic Cork. Spin was in short supply apart from the steady work of Edwin Smith and the underrated all-rounder Geoff Miller, the former national selector of the England team and noted after-dinner speaker. The signing of Eddie Barlow, the famous South African, in 1976 and the lengthy period under the captaincy of Kim Barnett, starting in 1983, meant the side were rarely uncompetitive.

Derbyshire were crowned County Championship Division Two champions in 2012 after securing a 6-wicket victory over Hampshire on the final day of the season at the County Ground, as Karl Krikken's side won promotion after securing more wins over the course of the season than Yorkshire who also finished the campaign on 194 points.

After the conclusion of the 2013 season, Derbyshire announced a new Elite Cricket Performance model in the next phase of the club's quest for sustainable on-field success across all three domestic competitions, combined with the desire to produce England cricketers. Former Derbyshire bowler Graeme Welch was appointed the new Elite Cricket Performance Director in January 2014.

Honours

• County Championship (1) – 1936 :Division Two (1) – 2012
• Sunday/Pro 40/National League (1) – 1990
• Gillette/NatWest/C&G/Friends Provident Trophy (1) – 1981
• Benson & Hedges Cup (1) – 1993

Ground history

This following table gives details of every venue at which Derbyshire have hosted a first-class, List A or Twenty20 match:

Players

Current squad

• No. denotes the player's squad number, as worn on the back of their shirt.
• denotes players with international caps.
• denotes a player who has been awarded a county cap.

Records

Most first-class runs for Derbyshire

Qualification – 15,000 runs

Most first-class wickets for Derbyshire

Qualification – 1,000 wickets

Derbyshire recorded their highest ever score, 801 for 8 declared, against Somerset at Taunton in 2007. Their score beat their previous highest ever score of 707 for 7 declared also against Somerset at Taunton in 2005. Simon Katich scored 221, Ian Harvey 153, Ant Botha 101 and James Pipe 106. Derbyshire broke the record despite losing Phil Weston and Chris Taylor to Andy Caddick in the first over without a run on the board.

References

Bibliography

References

1. (18 August 2009). "Derbyshire to take on Falcons title". ECB website.
2. "List A events played by Derbyshire". CricketArchive.
3. "Twenty20 events played by Derbyshire". CricketArchive.
4. "Gents of Kent v Derbyshire, July 1870". CricketArchive.
5. "MCC v Derbyshire, July 1870". CricketArchive.
6. Sissons, Ric (1988). ''The Players''.
7. "Lancashire v Derbyshire, May 1871". CricketArchive.
8. (7 January 2014). "Start of a new era as Derbyshire attract Welch". Derbyshire County Cricket Club.
9. "The Home of CricketArchive".
10. "The Home of CricketArchive".