Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic

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 ...

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 The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (Bird of prey, raptor) in the family (biology), family Falco ...

which nests on the Derby Cathedral (it was previously called the Derbyshire Scorpions until 2005 and the Phantoms until 2010). 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. Derbyshire is also classified as a

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

team since the beginning of

limited overs cricket Limited overs cricket, also known as one-day cricket or white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed in one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty ...

in 1963; and classified as a senior Twenty20 team since 2003. 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. 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 Queen's Park is a county cricket ground located in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England and lies within a park in the centre of the town established for Queen Victoria's golden jubilee in 1887. It has a small pavilion and is surrounded by mature ...

with a County Championship game against Worcestershire and a one-day league game against

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. ...

. Other first-class cricket grounds used in the past have included Buxton, Saltergate in Chesterfield, Heanor, Ilkeston,

Blackwell Blackwell may refer to: Places ;Canada * Blackwell, Ontario ;United Kingdom * Blackwell, County Durham, England * Blackwell, Carlisle, Cumbria, England * Blackwell (historic house), South Lakeland, Cumbria, England * Blackwell, Bolsover, Alfre ...

, Abbeydale Park in Sheffield, Wirksworth and Burton upon Trent (3 grounds), which is actually in neighbouring Staffordshire. One-day matches have been played at Darley Dale, Repton School,

Trent College Trent College is a co-educational independent day and boarding school located in Long Eaton, Derbyshire between Nottingham and Derby, Derbyshire, Derby. Founded in 1868 as a local ’middle class alternative’ to the more famous Public school ( ...

, Leek, Staffordshire and Knypersley (also in Staffordshire).

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 Walter Boden (6 August 1837 – 16 September 1905) was an English cricketer who played for Derbyshire in 1874. Boden was born in St. Peter's, Derby, the son of Henry and Ann Boden. He became a partner in the lace business of Boden and Black. ...

, 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. 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 Thomas Stanley Worthington (21 August 1905 – 31 August 1973) was a cricketer who played for Derbyshire between 1923 and 1947 and for England between 1930 and 1937. He was an all-rounder, scoring over 19000 runs and taking over 600 first-class ...

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 Leslie Hyde Townsend (born 4 October 1914 at Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; died 30 January 1986) was an Australian cricket Test match umpire. He umpired one Test match between Australia and England at Melbourne on 13 February to 18 F ...

, Smith and Alderman all passed 1,000 runs and Copson and Mitchell took over 100 wickets, with Alf Pope taking 94.

Charlie Elliott Charles Standish Elliott MBE (24 April 1912 – 1 January 2004) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Derbyshire between 1932 and 1953, an international umpire and a part-time footballer. Elliott was born in Bolsover, Derbyshire. ...

, 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 Laurence Reginald Ward Johnson, (born 7 February 1927) is an English composer and bandleader who has written scores for dozens of film and television series and has been one of the most highly regarded arrangers of instrumental pop and swing ...

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 Clifford Gladwin (3 April 1916 – 10 April 1988) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Derbyshire from 1939 to 1958 and in eight Tests for England from 1947 to 1949. He took over 1,600 first-class wickets. A tall right-arm med ...

, Les Jackson, Harold Rhodes, Alan Ward,

Mike Hendrick Michael Hendrick (22 October 1948 – 26 July 2021) was an English cricketer, who played in thirty Tests and twenty-two One Day Internationals for England from 1973 to 1981. He played for Derbyshire from 1969 to 1981, and for Nottinghamshire f ...

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 Public speaking, also called oratory or oration, has traditionally meant the act of speaking face to face to a live audience. Today it includes any form of speaking (formally and informally) to an audience, including pre-recorded speech deliver ...

. 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 The Benson & Hedges Cup was a one-day cricket competition for first-class counties in England and Wales that was held from 1972 to 2002, one of cricket's longest sponsorship deals. It was the third major one-day competition established in Englan ...

(1) – 1993

Ground history

This following table gives details of every venue at which Derbyshire have hosted a first-class,

or Twenty20 match: Photo from Racecourse end

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 David James Pipe (born 16 December 1977) is a former English first-class cricketer, who played as a wicket-keeper. Pipe was born at Bradford and made his first-class debut for Worcestershire against Oxford University in May 1998, recordin ...

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

External links

Official Derbyshire County Cricket Club websiteCricInfo's Derbyshire section
{{Derby English first-class cricket teams History of Derbyshire Sport in Derby Cricket in Derbyshire Cricket clubs established in 1870 1870 establishments in England