Derbyshire County Cricket Club

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see The Blaze (women's cricket).

Derbyshire County Cricket Club

One Day name	Derbyshire Falcons
Twenty20 name	Derbyshire Falcons
Personnel
Captain	Wayne Madsen
One Day captain	Samit Patel
Coach	Mickey Arthur
Overseas player(s)	Caleb Jewell Blair Tickner
Team information
Founded	1870;155 years ago (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

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.

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 neighbouring Staffordshire. One-day matches have been played at Darley Dale, Repton School, Trent College, 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, 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

For Derbyshire County Cricket Club season by season, see Derbyshire County Cricket Club seasons.

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 ^[6] was appointed the new Elite Cricket Performance Director in January 2014.

Honours

See also: List of the competitive honours won by county cricket clubs in England and Wales

• 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:

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	1986–2013	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

Further information: List of Derbyshire CCC 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
Batters
4	Harry Came	England	(1998-08-27) 27 August 1998 (age 26)	Right-handed	Right-arm off break
18	Yousaf Bin Naeem	England	(2006-07-25) 25 July 2006 (age 18)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
22	Mitch Wagstaff	England	(2003-09-02) 2 September 2003 (age 21)	Left-handed	Right-arm leg break
77	Wayne Madsen* ‡	Italy	(1984-01-02) 2 January 1984 (age 41)	Right-handed	Right-arm off break	Club captain
—	Caleb Jewell	Australia	(1997-04-21) 21 April 1997 (age 27)	Left-handed	—	Overseas player
All-rounders
2	Martin Andersson	England	(1996-09-06) 6 September 1996 (age 28)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
10	Luis Reece*	England	(1990-08-04) 4 August 1990 (age 34)	Left-handed	Left-arm medium
15	Alex Thomson	England	(1993-10-30) 30 October 1993 (age 31)	Right-handed	Right-arm off break
21	Samit Patel  ‡	England	(1984-11-30) 30 November 1984 (age 40)	Right-handed	Slow left-arm orthodox	Captain (LA & T20)
32	Zak Chappell*	England	(1996-08-21) 21 August 1996 (age 28)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium
44	Ross Whiteley	England	(1988-09-13) 13 September 1988 (age 36)	Left-handed	Left-arm medium
46	David Lloyd	Wales	(1992-06-15) 15 June 1992 (age 32)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
65	Anuj Dal*	England	(1996-07-08) 8 July 1996 (age 28)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
Wicket-keepers
12	Aneurin Donald	Wales	(1996-12-20) 20 December 1996 (age 28)	Right-handed	Right-arm off break
29	Brooke Guest*	England	(1997-05-14) 14 May 1997 (age 27)	Right-handed	—
Bowlers
13	Blair Tickner  ‡	New Zealand	(1993-10-13) 13 October 1993 (age 31)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium	Overseas player
14	Ben Aitchison	England	(1999-07-06) 6 July 1999 (age 25)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium
16	Harry Moore	England	(2007-04-26) 26 April 2007 (age 17)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium
26	Nick Potts	England	(2002-07-17) 17 July 2002 (age 22)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium
36	Pat Brown  ‡	England	(1998-08-23) 23 August 1998 (age 26)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium
—	Jack Morley	England	(2001-06-25) 25 June 2001 (age 23)	Left-handed	Slow left-arm orthodox

Records

For Derbyshire County Cricket Club's first-class records, see List of Derbyshire first-class cricket records.

For Derbyshire County Cricket Club's List A records, see List of Derbyshire List A cricket 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. Sissons, Ric (1988). The Players.
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 website
• Team profile at CricInfo