Derbyshire welcome Middlesex to The 3aaa County Ground for the opening Specsavers County Championship game of the season, starting on Friday 20 April.
Heritage Officer, David Griffin, looks at the statistical background to the game.
This will be the 97th scheduled first-class game between the two sides and, except for Durham who were only admitted to the County Championship in 1992, this is the lowest number of games Derbyshire has played against any of the other counties. By way of contrast, Derbyshire have played Leicestershire on 209 occasions.
The reason for this statistical anomaly arose from Middesex’s refusal to play Derbyshire at all in the years prior to 1929, when many county fixtures were arranged by the counties themselves, and they chose not to participate in games with Derbyshire.
This fixture is the 50th to be played between the two counties in first-class cricket in Derbyshire, with Derbyshire winning 15, Middlesex winning 11, with 23 draws in the first 49 games.
The last time these sides met in Derbyshire was in 2013, in a first division clash, which saw Derbyshire win by 56 runs thanks to a first innings 138 not out by Wayne Madsen, and seven wickets in the match by Mark Footitt.
Derbyshire’s record home win against Middlesex came in 1977, when the eventual County Champions were bowled out for just 54 on the opening morning at Ilkeston, Mike Hendrick taking 6-19 and Colin Tunnicliffe 4-22, before Derbyshire crushed their opponents by an innings and 177 runs.
The following statistics all relate to performances in first class games between Derbyshire and Middlesex played in Derbyshire;
Price freeze for 2018. Club Membership will once again offer one great value price for all in 2018. Join today for only £159 and don’t miss a moment of the action this summer.
