Wikipedia

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 nameDerbyshire Falcons
Twenty20 nameDerbyshire Falcons
Personnel
CaptainWayne Madsen
One Day captainAneurin Donald (T20)
CoachMickey Arthur
Overseas player(s)Caleb Jewell
Mohammad Abbas
Akif Javed (T20)
Allah Ghazanfar (T20)
Team information
Founded1870; 156 years ago (1870)
Home groundThe Central Co-op County Ground, Derby
Capacity4,999
History
First-class debutLancashire
in 1871
at Old Trafford
Championship Division One wins1
Championship Division Two wins1
Pro40 wins1
FP Trophy wins1
B&H Cup wins1
Official websitewww.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 neighbouring Staffordshire. One-day matches have been played at Darley Dale, Repton School, Trent College, Leek, Staffordshire and Knypersley (also in Staffordshire).

History

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Earliest cricket in Derbyshire

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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

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An ad hoc team of players from Derbyshire travelled to Kent and London in July 1870.[2] They played against the Gentlemen of Kent at the Angel Ground, and Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) at Lord's, winning both matches.[5][6]

Later in the year, on 4 November, Derbyshire County Cricket Club was founded.[2] This was the outcome of a meeting in the Derby Guildhall. The Earl of Chesterfield, who had played for and against the All England Eleven, was elected as the first President. G. H. Strutt was the Vice-President, and Walter Boden, who had campaigned for the club's foundation for three years, was the Secretary. Also present at the meeting was Boden's brother, Henry. When Chesterfield died the following year, William Jervis became President.[7][better source needed]

Derbyshire's opening season was 1871. The team played its inaugural first-class match against Lancashire at Old Trafford on 26 and 27 May. In doing so, they became part of the (then unofficial) County Championship. They defeated Lancashire by an innings and 11 runs, after dismissing them for only 25 in their first innings.[8]

Club history

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

Honours

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Ground history

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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

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Current squad

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  • 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
4Harry Came England27 August 1998 (age 27)Right-handedRight-arm off break
22Mitch Wagstaff England2 September 2003 (age 22)Left-handedRight-arm leg break
23Caleb Jewell* Australia21 April 1997 (age 29)Left-handed—Overseas player
25Yousaf Bin Naeem England25 July 2006 (age 19)Right-handedRight-arm medium
44Ross Whiteley England13 September 1988 (age 37)Left-handedLeft-arm mediumWhite ball contract
62Amrit Basra England26 May 2002 (age 24)Right-handedRight-arm medium
77Wayne Madsen* ‡ Italy2 January 1984 (age 42)Right-handedRight-arm off breakClub captain
All-rounders
7Joe Hawkins England7 March 2007 (age 19)Right-handedRight-arm off break
9Martin Andersson England6 September 1996 (age 29)Right-handedRight-arm medium
10Luis Reece* England4 August 1990 (age 35)Left-handedLeft-arm medium
21Matt Montgomery ‡ Germany10 May 2000 (age 26)Right-handedRight-arm off break
32Zak Chappell* England21 August 1996 (age 29)Right-handedRight-arm fast-medium
65Anuj Dal* England8 July 1996 (age 29)Right-handedRight-arm medium
Wicket-keepers
12Aneurin Donald Wales20 December 1996 (age 29)Right-handedRight-arm off breakCaptain (T20)
29Brooke Guest* England14 May 1997 (age 29)Right-handed—
Bowlers
13Shoaib Bashir ‡ England13 October 2003 (age 22)Right-handedRight-arm off breakEngland central contract
14Ben Aitchison England6 July 1999 (age 26)Right-handedRight-arm fast-medium
16Harry Moore England26 April 2007 (age 19)Right-handedRight-arm fast-medium
18Jack Morley England25 June 2001 (age 24)Left-handedSlow left-arm orthodox
26Nick Potts England17 July 2002 (age 23)Right-handedRight-arm fast-medium
36Pat Brown ‡ England23 August 1998 (age 27)Right-handedRight-arm fast-medium
38Mohammad Abbas ‡ Pakistan10 March 1990 (age 36)Right-handedRight-arm fast-mediumOverseas player
70Allah Ghazanfar ‡ Afghanistan20 March 2006 (age 20)Right-handedRight-arm leg breakOverseas player (T20 only)
88Akif Javed ‡ Pakistan10 October 2000 (age 25)Right-handedLeft-arm fast-mediumOverseas player (T20 only)
95Rory Haydon England26 January 2003 (age 23)Right-handedRight-arm fast-medium
Source:[10] Updated: 15 March 2026

Records

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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

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  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. 1 2 3 ACS 1982, p. 10.
  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. ↑ "Gents of Kent v Derbyshire, July 1870". CricketArchive. Retrieved 7 January 2026.
  6. ↑ "MCC v Derbyshire, July 1870". CricketArchive. Retrieved 7 January 2026.
  7. ↑ Sissons, Ric (1988). The Players.
  8. ↑ "Lancashire v Derbyshire, May 1871". CricketArchive. Retrieved 7 January 2026.
  9. ↑ "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.
  10. ↑ "Men's Squad". Derbyshire CCC. Retrieved 15 March 2026.
  11. ↑ "The Home of CricketArchive". Cricketarchive.com. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  12. ↑ "The Home of CricketArchive". Cricketarchive.com. Archived from the original on 29 September 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2018.

Bibliography

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Further reading

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