Derbyshire County Cricket Club

Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Derbyshire. Its limited overs team is called the Derbyshire Falcons in reference to the famous peregrine falcon which nests on the Derby Cathedral (it was previously called the Derbyshire Scorpions until 2005 and the Phantoms until 2010).[1] Founded in 1870, the club held first-class status from its first match in 1871 until 1887. Because of poor performances and lack of fixtures in some seasons, Derbyshire then lost its status for seven seasons until it was invited into the County Championship in 1895.[2] Derbyshire is also classified as a List A team since the beginning of limited overs cricket in 1963;[3] and classified as a senior Twenty20 team since 2003.[4] In recent years the club has enjoyed record attendances with over 24,000 people watching their home Twenty20 fixtures in 2017 – a record for a single campaign. The local derby versus Yorkshire at Chesterfield now regularly sells out in advance.

Derbyshire County Cricket Club

One Day name	Derbyshire Falcons
Twenty20 name	Derbyshire Falcons
Personnel
Captain	Billy Godleman
Coach	Head of Cricket Dave Houghton Twenty20 Coach Dominic Cork
Team information
Founded	1870
Home ground	The Incora County Ground, Derby
Capacity	4,999
History
First-class debut	Lancashire in 1871 at Old Trafford
Championship Division One wins	1
Championship Division Two wins	1
Pro40 wins	1
FP Trophy wins	1
B&H Cup wins	1
Official website	www.derbyshireccc.com
First-class One-day T20

The club is based at the County Cricket Ground, previously known as the Racecourse Ground, in the city of Derby. In 2006, for the first time in eight years, county cricket returned to Queen's Park, Chesterfield with a County Championship game against Worcestershire and a one-day league game against Surrey. Other first-class cricket grounds used in the past have included Buxton, Saltergate in Chesterfield, Heanor, Ilkeston, Blackwell, Abbeydale Park in Sheffield, Wirksworth and Burton upon Trent (3 grounds), which is actually in Staffordshire. One-day contests have been played at Darley Dale, Repton School, Trent College, Leek, Staffordshire and Knypersley (also in Staffordshire).

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

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

The formation of Derbyshire County Cricket Club took place on 4 November 1870 at a meeting in the Guildhall, Derby. The Earl of Chesterfield, who had played for and against All-England, was the first President, G. H. Strutt was Vice-President and Walter Boden, who had campaigned for the club's foundation for three years, was secretary. Also present at the meeting was Boden's brother, Henry. When Chesterfield died the following year, William Jervis became President.[5]

Derbyshire's opening season was 1871 when the club played its initial first-class match versus Lancashire at Old Trafford Cricket Ground on 26 and 27 May 1871 and joined the (then unofficial) County Championship.

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 under-rated all-rounder Geoff Miller, the current 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 [6] was appointed the new Elite Cricket Performance Director in January 2014.

Ground history

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

The County Ground, Derby, Derbyshire's regular home venue since 1871

Queen's Park, Chesterfield, Derbyshire's most used outground

Name of ground	Location	Year	FC matches	LA matches	T20 matches	Total
Abbeydale Park	Sheffield	1946-1947	2	0	0	2
Bass Worthington Ground	Burton upon Trent	1975–1976	2	0	0	2
Burton-on-Trent CC Ground	Burton upon Trent	1914-1937	13	0	0	13
County Ground	Derby	1871–present	721	293	23	1037
Derby Road Ground	Wirksworth	1874	1	0	0	1
Highfield	Leek	1986–present	0	3	1	4
Ind Coope Ground	Burton upon Trent	1938–1980	38	5	0	43
Miners Welfare Ground	Blackwell	1909-1913	7	0	0	7
North Road Ground	Glossop	1899-1910	14	0	0	14
Park Road Ground	Buxton	1923–1986	45	9	0	54
Queen's Park	Chesterfield	1898–present	396	82	2	480
Recreation Ground	Long Eaton	1887	1	0	0	1
Repton School Ground	Repton	1988	0	1	0	1
Rutland Recreation Ground	Ilkeston	1925–1994	93	16	0	109
Saltergate	Chesterfield	1874-1875	2	0	0	2
Station Road	Darley Dale	1975	0	1	0	1
Tean Road Sports Ground	Cheadle	1973–1987	0	2	0	2
Town Ground	Heanor	1991–1993	1	8	0	9
Trent College	Long Eaton	1975–1979	0	5	0	5
Tunstall Road	Knypersley	1985–1990	0	3	0	3
Uttoxeter Road	Checkley	1991–1993	0	2	0	2
Source: CricketArchive Updated: 28 February 2010

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.

No.	Name	Nationality	Birth date	Batting Style	Bowling Style	Notes
Batsmen
1	Billy Godleman*	England	11 February 1989	Left-handed	Right-arm leg break	Club captain
24	Tom Wood	England	11 May 1994	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
76	Leus du Plooy	South Africa	12 January 1995	Left-handed	Slow left-arm orthodox	Kolpak registration
77	Wayne Madsen*	South Africa	2 January 1984	Right-handed	Right-arm off break	UK passport
All-rounders
10	Luis Reece*	England	4 August 1990	Left-handed	Left-arm medium
18	Alex Hughes*	England	29 September 1991	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
20	Matt Critchley*	England	13 August 1996	Right-handed	Right-arm leg break
21	Mattie McKiernan	England	14 June 1994	Right-handed	Right-arm leg break
33	Fynn Hudson-Prentice	England	12 January 1996	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium
53	Nils Priestley	England	18 September 2000	Left-handed	Right-arm medium
65	Anuj Dal	England	8 July 1996	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
Wicket-keepers
16	Harvey Hosein	England	12 August 1996	Right-handed	—
29	Brooke Guest	England	14 May 1997	Right-handed	—
47	Ben McDermott	Australia	12 December 1994	Right-handed	Right-arm medium	Overseas player (T20 only)
Bowlers
8	Michael Cohen	South Africa	4 August 1998	Left-handed	Left-arm fast-medium	EU Passport
11	Ben Aitchison	England	6 July 1999	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium
13	Dustin Melton	Zimbabwe	11 April 1995	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium	Overseas player
23	Sean Abbott	Australia	29 February 1992	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium	Overseas player
59	Sam Conners	England	13 February 1999	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium
—	Nick Potts	England	17 July 2002	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium

Records

Most first-class runs for Derbyshire Qualification – 15,000 runs[7] Player Runs Kim Barnett 23,854 Denis Smith 20,516 Derek Morgan 17,842 Leslie Townsend 17,667 Stan Worthington 17,000 Arnold Hamer 15,277

Most first-class wickets for Derbyshire Qualification – 1,000 wickets[8] Player Wickets Les Jackson 1,670 Cliff Gladwin 1,536 Billy Bestwick 1,452 Tommy Mitchell 1,417 Derek Morgan 1,216 Edwin Smith 1,209 Bill Copson 1,033

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

1. "Derbyshire to take on Falcons title". ECB website. 18 August 2009. Archived from the original on 30 April 2010. Retrieved 21 September 2009.
2. ACS (1982). 'A Guide to First-Class Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles'. Nottingham: ACS.
3. "List A events played by Derbyshire". CricketArchive. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
4. "Twenty20 events played by Derbyshire". CricketArchive. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
5. Ric Sissons' 'The Players' 1988.
6. "Start of a new era as Derbyshire attract Welch". Derbyshire County Cricket Club. 7 January 2014. Archived from the original on 7 January 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
7. "The Home of CricketArchive". Cricketarchive.com. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
8. "The Home of CricketArchive". Cricketarchive.com. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2018.

Further reading

• H S Altham, A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914), George Allen & Unwin, 1962.
• Derek Birley, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999.
• Rowland Bowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970.
• Roy Webber, The Playfair Book of Cricket Records, Playfair Books, 1951.
• Playfair Cricket Annual – various editions.
• Wisden Cricketers' Almanack – various editions.

External links

• Official Derbyshire County Cricket Club website
• CricInfo's Derbyshire section