Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire. Its limited overs team is called the Derbyshire Phantoms. The traditional counties of England are ancient subdivisions of England into around forty areas, which were used for both administrative and general geographical demarcation for several hundreds of years. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2005 est. ... For the insect, see Cricket (insect). ... Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. ...

The club is based at the County Cricket Ground, previously known as the Racecourse Ground, in the city of Derby. Other first-class cricket grounds used in the past have included Chesterfield, Buxton, Heanor, Ilkeston and Burton-upon-Trent, which is actually in Staffordshire. One-day contests have been played at Darley Dale and Knypersley (also in Staffordshire). The County Cricket Ground, usually shortened to County Ground and also known as the Racecourse Ground, is a cricket ground in Derby and has been the home of Derbyshire County Cricket Club since at least 1871. ... Derby (pronounced dar-bee ) is a city in the East Midlands of England. ... First-class cricket matches are those between international teams or the highest standard of domestic teams in which teams have two innings each. ... Chesterfield is a historic market town and local government district in Derbyshire, a county in England. ... No-one in Buxton buys Buxton Water in the shops — they bring their bottles to St Anns Well and get it for free Buxton is a spa town in Derbyshire, England and is described as the gateway to the Peak District National Park (true from the west). ... Location within the British Isles Heanor is a town in the Amber Valley region of Derbyshire, England. ... Ilkeston is a town in Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England, on the River Erewash. ... Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a large town straddling the River Trent in the east of Staffordshire, England. ... Location within the British Isles. ...

In 2006 the club is in Division Two of both the County Championship and the one day league. The captain is Graeme Welch and the coach is former Zimbabwe captain David Houghton. The overseas players are the Australians Michael Di Venuto and Travis Birt. The County Championship is the domestic first class cricket competition in the United Kingdom, mainly in England. ... // The National League, currently sponsored as the Pro 40 League and formerly the totesport League, is the one-day cricket league for first class cricket counties in England. ... Graeme Welch born March 21, 1972, Durham is an English cricket player. ... David Laud Houghton (born on 23 June 1957 in Bulawayo) is a former Zimbabwean Test cricketer. ... Michael James Di Venuto (born December 12, 1973 in Hobart, Tasmania) is a cricketer who has played first-class cricket for Tasmanian Tigers, and One-day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals for Australia. ... Travis Birt (born December 9, 1981) is an Australian cricketer. ...

Honours

• County Championship (1) - 1936; shared (0) -
• Gillette/NatWest/C&G Trophy (1) - 1981
• Sunday/National League (1) - 1990
• Twenty20 Cup (0) -
• Benson & Hedges Cup (1) - 1993

Second XI honours

• Second XI Championship (0) - ; shared (0) -
• Second XI Trophy (0) -
• Minor Counties Championship (0) - ; shared (0) -

Earliest cricket

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. The earliest known references to cricket in Yorkshire are in 1751. ... Chesterfield is a historic market town and local government district in Derbyshire, a county in England. ...

Origin of club

The formation of Derbyshire CCC took place on 4 November 1870 at a meeting in the Guildhall, Derby.

Derbyshire CCC played its initial first-class match versus Lancashire CCC at Old Trafford Cricket Ground on 26 & 27 May 1871 and joined the (then unofficial) County Championship. Lancashire County Cricket Club is a first-class cricket club based at Old Trafford cricket ground, Manchester, Lancashire. ... Lancashire CCC - main entrance Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester, England has been the home of Manchester Cricket Club since 1856 and of the Lancashire County Cricket Club since it was founded in 1864. ...

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. 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 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. George Davidson (1825-1911) was an American geographer and astronomer. ... William Storer (born January 25, 1867, Butterley, Derbyshire, died February 28, 1912 in Derby) was an English cricketer who played in 6 Tests from 1897 to 1899. ... William Chatterton (born 27 December 1861 in Thornsett, Derbyshire, England; died 19 March 1913 in Flowery Field, Hyde, Cheshire, England) was a cricketer who played first-class cricket for Derbyshire County Cricket Club between 1882 and 1902. ...

From this point up to 1925, Derbyshire were perennially among the weakest counties, losing every single match in 1920. From 1926, the nucleus of a good team emerged around some doughty batting from Denis Smith, Stan Worthington and George Pope, and the bowling of Pope, his brother Alf, Tom Mitchell and Bill Copson took the team to their one and so far only Championship victory in 1936. Denis Smith, born January 24, 1907, and died September 12, 1979, was a cricketer who played for Derbyshire and England. ... Thomas Stanley Stan Worthington, born August 21, 1905 and died August 31, 1973 at Kings Lynn, was a cricketer who played for Derbyshire and England. ... George Henry Pope (born January 27, 1911, Tibshelf, Derbyshire, died October 29, 1993, Spital, Derbyshire) was an English cricketer who played in one Test in 1947. ... Tom Mitchell is a balding pillock born in Gloucester in 1982. ... Bill Copson (William Henry Copson; born April 27, 1908; died September 14, 1971) was the spearhead of Derbyshires sole County Championship victory in 1936 and arguably the best bowler Derbyshire produced during the twentieth century. ...

There have been more downs than ups in postwar years. Though runs came regularly from Arnold Hamer, 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 fast 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. Donald Bryce Carr (born 28 December 1926) is a former English cricketer who played for Derbyshire, Oxford University and England. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2005 est. ... Clifford Gladwin, born Doe Lea, Derbyshire, April 3, 1916 and died at Chesterfield on April 10, 1988, was a cricketer who played for Derbyshire and England. ... Herbert Leslie Jackson, born 5 April 1921, was a cricketer who bowled at fast or fast-medium pace for more than a dozen years for Derbyshire and was regularly at or near the top of the English bowling averages. ... Harold Rhodes was the inventor of the Rhodes Piano. ... Alan Ward (born August 10, 1947, Dronfield, Derbyshire) is a former English cricketer who played in 5 Tests from 1969 to 1976. ... Michael Hendrick (born October 22, 1948, Darley Dale, Derbyshire) is a former English cricketer who played in 30 Tests and 22 ODIs from 1973 to 1981. ... Devon Eugene Malcolm (born 22 February 1963) was an English cricketer. ...

References

• A Social History of English Cricket by Derek Birley
• Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians - various publications
• Cricket: History of its Growth and Development by Rowland Bowen
• From the Weald to the World by Peter Wynne-Thomas (PWT)
• Hamlyn A-Z of Cricket Records by Peter Wynne-Thomas
• Playfair Cricket Annual : various issues
• Scores & Biographies by Arthur Haygarth (SBnnn)
• The Cricketer magazine (Cktr)
• Wisden Cricketers Almanack (annual): various issues

Sir Derek Birley (born 31 May 1926; died 14 May 2002) was an English educationalist and writer who had a strong interest in sport, especially cricket. ... The role of the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) is to promote and encourage research into the statistical and historical aspects of cricket throughout the world (at all levels) and to publish the findings. ... Major Rowland Bowen (born c. ... Peter Wynne-Thomas (born Retford, Nottinghamshire 30 July 1934) is an English cricket archivist, writer, historian and statistician. ... Peter Wynne-Thomas (born Retford, Nottinghamshire 30 July 1934) is an English cricket archivist, writer, historian and statistician. ... Arthur Haygarth (born 4 August 1825; died 1 May 1903) went to Harrow. ...

External links

• Official Derbyshire County Cricket Club website
• cricinfo's Derbyshire section