Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1871

Derbyshire County Cricket Club seasons
	1871 season
Captain	Samuel Richardson
Most runs	Unwin Sowter
Most wickets	Dove Gregory
	1872 →

Last updated January 03, 2023

Derbyshire county cricket opening season was in 1871 when Derbyshire County Cricket Club first competed in the county competition, having been founded the previous November.

Foundation

Derbyshire CCC was formed for the county of Derbyshire on 4 November 1870 at a meeting in the Derby Guildhall. The Earl of Chesterfield who had played for and against All England Eleven was the first President, George Henry Strutt was vice president and Walter Boden, who had campaigned for the club's foundation for three years, was secretary. When Chesterfield died in 1871, William Jervis, a well connected lawyer, became president.^[1] The main problem that arose from the beginning was that of arranging matches against other counties. For the first three seasons only Lancashire County Cricket Club were willing to make fixtures.^[2]

1871 season

Derbyshire CCC played two matches in its first year, both against Lancashire CCC and joined the (then unofficial) County Championship. One match was won, and the other lost.

The club's first captain was Samuel Richardson, a gentleman's outfitter in the town of Derby. Derbyshire's bowling strength came from the professionals Dove Gregory who had played for a Derbyshire team in the 1850s, William Hickton a former Lancashire player and John Platts who was on the ground staff of MCC. Amateurs who began long careers with the club were Robert Smith (future captain) a farmer, John Smith a solicitor, Unwin Sowter a miller and baker, John Tilson a lace maker and John Burnham a clerk. Shorter careers were enjoyed by Thomas Attenborough a cattle dealer and Joseph Davidson a miner. Single appearances were made by Rev, Arthur Wilmot local rector, Edward Foley Oxford University student and vicar's son and James Billyeald a commercial traveller. Some had played for Gentlemen of Derbyshire, South Derbyshire and Derby Town.

The initial first-class match was at Old Trafford Cricket Ground on 26 and 27 May 1871. In this match the Lancashire batsmen were destroyed in their first innings by the pace of the Derbyshire fast bowler, Dove Gregory, who took six wickets for nine runs. They made a record low innings score of 25. Derbyshire replied with 147, and Lancashire failed in their second innings to achieve a combined total that surpassed it. In the return match in August, the club's first at the County Ground, Derbyshire replied with 80 to Lancashire's first innings score of 116, and with 58 to their second innings score of 84. Lancashire's Arthur Appleby did great damage with 6 for 38 and 7 for 21

Matches

List of matches
No.	Date	V	Result	Winning margin	Notes
1	26 May 1871^[3]	Lancashire Old Trafford	Won	Innings and 11 runs	Dove Gregory 6-9; FR Reynolds 5-54
2	17 Aug 1871^[4]	Lancashire County Ground, Derby	Lost	62 runs	Dove Gregory 5-57; A Appleby 6-38 and 7-21; John Platts 5-34

Batting performances

Name	Am/ Pro	Age	Hand	Matches	Inns	Runs	High	Ave
Unwin Sowter	A	32	R	2	3	55	47*	27.50
James Billyeald	A	36	R	1	2	15	11*	15.00
John Burnham	A	31	R	2	3	35	31	11.66
Robert Smith	A	22	R	2	3	31	17	10.33
Samuel Richardson	A	26	R	2	3	30	25	10.00
Thomas Attenborough	A	37	R	2	3	28	20	9.33
William Hickton	P	28	R	2	3	26	13	8.66
Joseph Davidson	A	24	R	1	1	8	8	8.00
John Tilson	A	26	R	1	1	8	8	8.00
Dove Gregory	P	34	R	2	3	15	10	7.50
John Platts	P	32	L	2	3	16	12	5.33
John Smith	A	29	R	1	1	1	1	1.00
Edward Foley	A	19	R	1	2	0	0	0.00
Arthur Wilmot	A	26	?	1	2	0	0	0.00

Bowling performances

Name	Hand	Balls	Runs	Wickets	Average	Best
Dove Gregory	R F (round arm)	395	144	17	8.47	6-9
William Hickton	R F	347	147	12	12.25	4-16
John Platts	R F	84	38	8	4.75	5-34

Wicket Keeper

Samuel Richardson; catches 1, stumping 1

Related Research Articles

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. 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 team since the beginning of limited overs cricket 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.

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References

↑ Ric Sissons The Players 1988
↑ W T Taylor History of Derbyshire Cricket Wisden Cricketer's Almanack 1953
↑ Cricket Archive - Lancashire v Derbyshire 26 May 1871
↑ Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Lancashire 17 Aug 1871

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[1] Ric Sissons The Players 1988

[2] W T Taylor History of Derbyshire Cricket Wisden Cricketer's Almanack 1953

[3] Cricket Archive - Lancashire v Derbyshire 26 May 1871

[4] Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Lancashire 17 Aug 1871

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