Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1903 was the

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

season when the English club

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

had been playing for thirty two years. It was their ninth season in the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

and they won five matches to come twelfth

1903 season

Derbyshire played sixteen games in the

in addition to two matches against W.G. Grace's

London County Cricket Club London County Cricket Club was a short-lived cricket club founded by the Crystal Palace Company. In 1898 they invited WG Grace to help them form a first-class cricket club. Grace accepted the offer and became the club's secretary, manager and ...

and one against MCC. They won four matches in the Championship and one against London County. The captain for the year was

Albert Lawton Albert Edward Lawton (31 March 1879 – 25 December 1955) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Derbyshire between 1900 and 1910 and for Lancashire between 1912 and 1914. He captained the Derbyshire team between 1902 and 19 ...

in his second season as captain.

Levi Wright Levi George Wright (15 January 1862 – 11 January 1953) was an English footballer and first-class cricketer. He played association football for Derby County and Notts County and cricket for Derbyshire from 1883 to 1909 being captain for a seaso ...

was top scorer and

Billy Bestwick William Bestwick (24 February 1875 – 2 May 1938) was an English cricketer who played for Derbyshire between 1898 and 1926. He was a medium-fast bowler who took over 1,400 wickets for the county, including 10 in one innings. From his wild tem ...

took most wickets. A significant addition to the Derbyshire side was Arthur Morton who played for the club until 1926. Other new players in the season were R T Ryder who played his one career first class match against London County and G Green who also made one appearance against London County but played for Derbyshire intermittently over several seasons.

Matches

{, class="wikitable" width="100%" ! bgcolor="#efefef" colspan=6 , List of matches , - bgcolor="#efefef" !No. !Date !V !Result !Margin !Notes , - , 1 , 11 May 1903 ,

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

Trent Bridge, Nottingham , bgcolor="#FF0000", Lost , 6 wickets , Wass 5-43 , - , 2 , 18 May 1903 ,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

County Ground, Derby , bgcolor="#FF0000", Lost , 10 wickets , Barnes 7-25 and 7-34; JJ Hulme 8-52 , - , 3 , 21 May 1903 , MCC
Lord's Cricket Ground, St John's Wood , bgcolor="#FF0000", Lost , 9 wickets , Llewellyn 5-65; JJ Hulme 6-60; Thompson 5-30 , - , 4 , 01 Jun 1903 ,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

County Ground, Southampton , bgcolor="#FF0000", Lost , 261 runs , Llewellyn 148; Hill 150; JJ Hulme 7-123; Chignell 5-68; Hesketh-Pritchard 7-47 , - , 5 , 08 Jun 1903 ,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

County Ground, Leyton , bgcolor="#FFCC00", Drawn , , Perrin 102(rh); Buckenham 6-47; W Bestwick 5-95; Mead 5-77 , - , 6 , 15 Jun 1903 ,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

Queen's Park, Chesterfield , bgcolor="#00FF00", Won , 111 runs , W Bestwick 7-20; Richardson 5-43 , - , 7 , 18 Jun 1903 ,

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

County Ground, Derby , bgcolor="#FF0000", Lost , 7 wickets , JJ Hulme 5-69 , - , 8 , 22 Jun 1903 ,

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

Edgbaston, Birmingham , bgcolor="#FFCC00", Drawn , , LG Wright 133; Field 6-82 and 5-150 , - , 9 , 25 Jun 1903 ,

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

County Ground, Derby , bgcolor="#00FF00", Won , 35 runs , Gill 5-93; A Warren 5-69 and 6-112 , - , 10 , 06 Jul 1903 ,

Aylestone Road, Leicester , bgcolor="#FF0000", Lost , 126 runs , King 167; Odell 6-74 , - , 11 , 09 Jul 1903 ,

County Ground, Derby , bgcolor="#00FF00", Won , 114 runs , SWA Cadman 5-42; A Warren 6-93 , - , 12 , 16 Jul 1903 ,

Crystal Palace Park , bgcolor="#FF0000", Lost , Innings and 31 runs , W Smith 123; Cranfield 7-105 , - , 13 , 20 Jul 1903 ,

North Road Ground, Glossop , bgcolor="#FF0000", Lost , 232 runs , Mead 5-38 , - , 14 , 03 Aug 1903 ,

County Ground, Derby , bgcolor="#00FF00", Won , Innings and 59 runs , E Needham 131; A Warren 6-43 , - , 15 , 06 Aug 1903 ,

Old Trafford, Manchester , bgcolor="#FF0000", Lost , 9 wickets , LG Wright 116; Hallows 5-42 , - , 16 , 10 Aug 1903 ,

Kennington Oval , bgcolor="#FFCC00", Drawn , , Dowson 100* , - , 17 , 13 Aug 1903 ,

St George's Road, Harrogate , bgcolor="#FFCC00", Drawn , , , - , 18 , 17 Aug 1903 ,

Queen's Park, Chesterfield , bgcolor="#FFCC00", Drawn , , W Bestwick 5-86; Hargreave 5-55; Santall 5-19 , - , 19 , 20 Aug 1903 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v London County 20 Aug 1903
/ref> ,

County Ground, Derby , bgcolor="#00FF00", Won , 8 wickets , Odell 7-69 , -

Statistics

County Championship batting averages

{, class="wikitable sortable" width="70%" , - bgcolor="#efefef" ! Name !! Matches !! Inns !! Runs !! High score !! Average !!100s , - , LG Wright , , 15 , , 27 , , 940 , , 133 , , 37.60 , , 2 , - , CA Ollivierre , , 16 , , 30 , , 660, , 72 , , 22.75 , , 0 , - , W Storer , , 15, , 27 , , 593, , 89 , , 21.96 , , 0 , - , E Needham , , 14 , , 25 , , 470 , , 131 , , 20.43 , , 1 , - , AE Lawton , , 16 , , 27 , , 473, , 63 , , 18.19 , , 0 , - , SWA Cadman , , 11 , , 18 , , 309 , , 55 , , 17.16 , , 0 , - , W Ellis , , 4, , 8 , , 121 , , 44 , , 15.12 , , 0 , - , EM Ashcroft , , 7 , , 11, , 142, , 67 , , 14.20, , 0 , - , A Warren , , 16 , , 28 , , 382 , , 89 , , 14.14 , , 0 , - , T Forrester , , 8 , , 16 , , 186, , 58 , , 12.40 , , 0 , - , A Morton , , 5 , , 10 , , 94 , , 22 , , 10.44 , , 0 , - , J Humphries , , 16 , , 27 , , 208 , , 24 , , 9.45 , , 0 , - , GR Gregory , , 7 , , 11 , , 85 , , 20*, , 9.44 , , 0 , - , JJ Hulme , , 8 , , 15 , , 64 , , 27* , , 5.33 , , 0 , - , W Bestwick , , 16, , 27 , , 68, , 19*, , 4.53 , , 0 , - , R Else , , 2, , 4 , , 8 , , 5 , , 2.66, , 0 , - In addition, W Locker played against MCC, CE Middleton and G Curgenven played in the first match against London County, and R T Ryder and G Green played in the second match against London County.

County Championship bowling averages

{, class="wikitable sortable" width="70%" , - bgcolor="#efefef" ! Name !! Balls !! Runs !! Wickets !! BB !! Average , - , W Bestwick , , 3758 , , 1599, , 66 , , 7-20 , , 24.22 , - , A Warren , , 2630 , , 1395 , , 65 , , 6-43 , , 21.46 , - , JJ Hulme , , 1460 , , 724 , , 36, , 8-52 , , 20.11 , - , SWA Cadman , , 1295 , , 560, , 19 , , 5-42 , , 29.47 , - , W Storer , , 470 , , 307 , , 13, , 3-29, , 23.61 , - , GR Gregory , , 270 , , 195 , , 10, , 4-70 , , 19.50 , - , AE Lawton , , 600 , , 334 , , 9, , 2-31 , , 37.11 , - , T Forrester , , 489 , , 250, , 6 , , 4-43 , , 41.66 , - , A Morton , , 258 , , 145, , 2, , 2-32, , 72.50 , - , EM Ashcroft , , 24 , , 15 , , 0, , , , , - , CA Ollivierre , , 12 , , 9, , 0 , , , , , - , R Else , , 12 , , 5 , , 0 , , , , , -

County Championship Wicket keeping

Joe Humphries Joseph Humphries (19 May 1876 – 7 May 1946) was an English cricketer who played three Test matches for England in Australia in 1907–08 and played first-class cricket for Derbyshire and the Marylebone Cricket Club between 1899 and 1914. Hu ...

Catches 23, Stumping 9

References

{{Derbyshire CCC 1903 in English cricket Derbyshire County Cricket Club seasons English cricket seasons in the 20th century