Derbyshire reach 25th quarter-final

Derbyshire’s qualification for the quarter-finals of the NatWest T20 Blast means that the Club has reached this stage of a tournament for the 25th time in its history and the first since 2014.

Heritage Officer, David Griffin, looks back at Derbyshire’s quarter final history.

The highly anticipated match against Hampshire at The 3aaa County Ground on Tuesday will be Derbyshire’s 25th quarter-final since limited overs matches were formally introduced in England and Wales in 1963, and their first in Twenty20 cricket since 2005, when Lancashire were the victors at Emirates Old Trafford in the same tournament.

More recently, Nottinghamshire were the winners in the 2014 quarter-final clash in the Royal London One-Day Cup at Trent Bridge.

The first notable observation is that Derbyshire will play a county from the southern group in T20 cricket for the first time, having only previously played eight other counties in the 20-over format.

13 of the 24 previous quarter finals were played at home, with Ilkeston hosting the game against Somerset in the Gillette Cup in 1977, and Derby staging the remaining fixtures.

Derbyshire achieved victory in nine of the 24 games, with those wins coming at Derby (4), Cardiff (2), Taunton, Trent Bridge and The Oval, and on six occasions Derbyshire progressed to the final of the competition, winning twice, in 1981 and 1993.

Kim Barnett, remarkably, played in 16 of the 24 quarter-finals and will, of course, be the Director of Cricket, for the 25th. One of the more thrilling quarter-finals was against Nottinghamshire at Derby in 1981, the year Derbyshire won the NatWest Trophy. Nottinghamshire, with Rice, Hadlee and Randall, were expected to outgun a Derbyshire side missing opening bowler, Mike Hendrick, and fellow England all-rounder, Geoff Miller.

However, Steve Oldham – replacing the injured Hendrick, and the 22-year-old Paul Newman, took six wickets between them, out-bowling their more celebrated Nottinghamshire counterparts, and Derbyshire recorded a remarkable 23-run win, having only totaled 164 all out in 59 overs.

In 1993, Derbyshire’s quarter-final win over Somerset in the Benson and Hedges Cup was something of a collector’s item. Derbyshire and Somerset tried to get a match underway at a sodden Taunton for several days, before the tie was finally resolved in a bowl-out with Derbyshire progressing to the semi-finals and a subsequent final win on that never-to-be-forgotten July evening at Lord’s.

Derbyshire reached eight consecutive quarter finals between 1992 and 1998, winning two, while their best consecutive winning run was 3 between 1978 and 1981.

This will be the 3rd time that Derbyshire and Hampshire have met at the quarter-final stage of a knockout competition, with the first taking place at Southampton in 1976 when Eddie Barlow’s side lost in the Gillette Cup, and the second in 1988 at Derby in the Nat West Trophy when Kim Barnett’s side were defeated by 4 wickets.

Kim Barnett played in 16 of Derbyshire’s 24 quarter-finals, and will of course, be the Director of Cricket, overseeing the club’s 25th.

Meanwhile, Derbyshire’s current NatWest T20 Blast Bowling Coach, Dominic Cork, captained Hampshire to victory in the Friends Provident T20 competition back in 2010.

Statistically, Wayne Madsen – with 522 runs, and Imran Tahir – with 17 wickets, have both become the leading run scorer and wicket-taker, respectively, in a season, during the course of the 2017 group campaign, with power to add in the quarter-final.

Derbyshire CCC record in quarter-finals:

Derbyshire Falcons face Hampshire in NatWest T20 Blast quarter-finals on Tuesday 22 August (6.30pm) at The 3aaa County Ground. Buy your tickets in advance & save.

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