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Matt has been in touch asking to see photographs and read accounts from one-day games between 2000 and 2010, including matches against Nottinghamshire.
Our Heritage Officer, David Griffin, writes;
Derbyshire’s second one-day game in the 21st century produced one of their most comprehensive limited overs wins; a nine-wicket triumph which occupied only 45.1 of the scheduled 100 overs as they defeated their neighbours Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in a Benson and Hedges North Group game on 16 April 2000.
Derbyshire opted to field having won the toss, and captain Dominic Cork struck with three lbws as Bicknell was out to the first ball of the match, Gallian to the third, and Afzaal to the final ball of Cork’s second over.
After three overs, Nottinghamshire were 12-3 and they never recovered from that awful start, although former Derbyshire batsman, John Morris, at his third county having left Durham at the end of 1999, top-scored with 39 before Paul Aldred claimed three late wickets to finish with 3-12 as the home side ended up 94 all out off 33.3 overs.
Derbyshire, in no mood to hang about, chased down the total in a mere 11.4 overs, scoring 98-1 with Michael Di Venuto making a dashing 61 not out from 42 balls with 12 fours, all superbly timed, including five in one over off Paul Franks.
It was as exhilarating a win as it was comprehensive.
In 2001, 17 defeats from 22 one-day games meant that positive performances were few and far between although Nottinghamshire were again beaten, this time at Derby in May when the visitors posted 231-5 in 50 overs with Trevor Smith taking 3-43.
Rob Bailey (62), Di Venuto (44) and former Nottinghamshire batsman, Matt Dowman (76 not out) saw Derbyshire home with six wickets and four balls to spare.
2003 saw the introduction of T20 cricket with just five group games scheduled in Derbyshire’s North Group.
The opening game against Yorkshire at Headingley began at 10.45am on Saturday 14 June, the morning start time considered to be ideal for a Yorkshire cricketing public who it was expected would be keen to go and play or watch recreational cricket afterwards.
The crowd was confined to the western side of the ground, and the dugouts placed in the southwest corner. Derbyshire, bowling first, completed their 20 overs in less than an hour as their bowlers ran back to their marks, assuming that 20 overs would take longer to bowl than they thought.
Even in those early days, taking pace off the ball was considered beneficial, and Derbyshire used Dominic Hewson, Nathan Dumelow and Michael Di Venuto in addition to seamers Dominic Cork, Graeme Welch and Tom Lungley.
Yorkshire made 186-6 with Di Venuto bowling leg breaks in taking 3-19 from his four overs.
He then top-scored with 67 off 45 balls opening the batting with Cork, but Mohammad Kaif, the Indian overseas player, was dismissed for nought and apart from Lungley’s belligerent 18 not out, there was little support for Di Venuto as Derbyshire were bowled out in 18.1 overs for 141 to lose by 45 runs.
Despite this initial loss, Derbyshire then won three in a row before losing the final game by just one run – to Leicestershire – thus missing out on a quarter-final space.
Headingley First T20 Game 2003
However, 2003 saw Derbyshire reach the semi-final of the Cheltenham and Gloucester (C&G) Trophy, as they hammered Kent Cricket Board in their opening game, and easily won by seven wickets against Glamorgan at Cardiff in the next round.
Surrey arrived at Derby for the quarter-final bristling with intent and an array of stars including Ally Brown, Mark Ramprakash, Graham Thorpe, Rikki Clarke, Adam Hollioake, Azhar Mahmood and Saqlain Mushtaq. Derbyshire, however, reserved one of their greatest limited overs performances for this game, winning by 137 runs largely thanks to Kaif’s 81 and a fine effort from the pace bowling unit of Cork, Dean, Welch and Lungley.
The semi-final against Gloucestershire at Bristol was played in blistering heat on a slow pitch in front of a large and animated crowd.
Derbyshire’s 219 appeared below par to most observers, although Kaif again impressed with 72, and it was difficult for the latter batsmen to make progress as seven wickets fell for just 85.
Cork was expensive at the start of Gloucestershire’s reply – 31 off 3 overs – but Welch removed both openers and Dean also took two wickets to dismiss Rhodes and Windows.
At 193-5, Gloucestershire had one foot in the final, but Lian Wharton took two wickets and then with only three runs required to win, Cork took two in his final over.
Averis – not noted for his batting – struck a boundary in the final over off Welch to give the home side victory and send Derbyshire’s large following back home, hugely disappointed.
Bristol C&G Semi Final 2003
In 2004, Derbyshire saved their best performance of the season in one day cricket for Nottinghamshire once again. The two sides met in a Totesport League game at Trent Bridge in July and the hosts made 211-8 from 45 overs, Gallian top scoring with 56. The young and dangerous Kevin Pietersen was clean bowled by Jon Moss for nine and the Australian all-rounder ended with 4-45 from nine overs.
Derbyshire made light work of their run chase, Moss (92) and Chris Bassano (100 not out) adding 184 for the first wicket as Nottinghamshire used eight bowlers in an attempt to stem the flow of runs.
Derbyshire’s win by nine wickets with almost five overs remaining was their last to date in List A matches at Trent Bridge, the eight games since then having all been lost.
In 2005, Derbyshire reached their first T20 quarter-final. The group stages now included eight games, and four wins, three defeats and one game abandoned was enough to be rewarded with a quarter final against Lancashire at Old Trafford.
Mal Loye made a brutal 73 off 32 balls for the home side in front of a large crowd and by the time he was out, Lancashire were 92-2 in the eighth over.
Ant Botha bowled tidily and helped slow the flow of runs, although Australian Andrew Symonds struck 57 off 37 balls to take his side to 189-7.
Di Venuto and Moss started well, with Hasan Adnan scoring 26 off 20 balls, and 121-3 in the 14th over left the game evenly balanced. Five wickets in two overs dented their cause, however, and Lancashire eased to victory by 17 runs.
In 2006, one of Derbyshire’s standout one-day performances was against Somerset at Derby in the 40-over Nat West Pro40 League in early September.
Derbyshire came into the game on the back of four consecutive one day defeats and having not won a game at all in this competition, and when Somerset smashed their way to 277-3 under the floodlights, some Derbyshire supporters set off home without even waiting to see their reply.
James Hildreth made a splendid 122 off 111 balls as all of Derbyshire’s bowlers apart from Botha (eight overs for 32) were put to the sword. Towards the end of the Somerset innings, stand-in skipper Steve Stubbings gave Travis Birt the ball, and this very occasional bowler rewarded his captain with 2-31 off six overs.
Derbyshire’s run chase began slowly – 16-1 off 5 overs with Stubbings out – before Di Venuto, batting at three, joined opener Birt. Derbyshire reached 50 in the tenth over and 100 in the 14th as both batsmen cut loose, Di Venuto reaching 50 off 33 balls. After his dismissal, Chris Taylor joined Birt and the pair added 95 in 15 overs, Birt reaching three figures off 101 balls with eight fours and four sixes, one huge strike landing at the top of the grassed bank. Botha added a quickfire 24 not out as Derbyshire reached their victory total with eight balls to spare.
In 2007, Derbyshire played their first – and to date only – T20 tour match, against the West Indians at Derby.
The touring side included Chris Gayle at the top of the order and although Shivnarine Chanderpaul was with the touring party, he didn’t play in this game.
Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy and Fidel Edwards were all players with a good international pedigree, and former and future Derbyshire players were on show, Daren Powell and Ravi Rampaul forming part of a strong-looking West Indians bowling attack.
A good crowd saw the home side bat first after Simon Katich won the toss and 135-6 off 20 overs was considered way below par even on a slow pitch. Katich made 31 Chris Taylor 28 not out and Michael Dighton 27, with Gayle taking 2-15 with his gentle off spin.
Danger man Gayle was bowled by Lungley for four and Samuels fell to his very first ball, Lungley again the bowler, before Dean (2-24) and Botha (4-14) wiped out the middle order.
Lungley returned to take the last two wickets to finish with 4-11 from only 16 balls as the visitors subsided to 84 all out off 15.4 overs.
June 2008 saw a thrilling win for Derbyshire in a group T20 game at Trent Bridge as Graham Wagg proved to be the match-winner for Derbyshire, not for the first time.
Nottinghamshire batted first after winning the toss and made 144—9 with only Adam Voges (52) playing a substantial innings, as Derbyshire’s bowlers took wickets at regular intervals. Charl Langeveldt (2-28) and Nayan Doshi (2-23) were effective with pace and spin respectively, but Wagg’s 3-23, including the wickets of the dangerous Samit Patel and Mark Ealham, ensured that the home side never really put together any decent partnerships.
Derbyshire’s response was measured, if a little slow, although at 100-2 with Wavell Hinds and Rikki Clarke batting well, victory appeared well within reach.
Patel had other ideas, dismissing Hinds (45), Clarke (28) and then James Pipe for a duck to leave Derbyshire’s innings in a perilous position on 113-6. Birch and Sadler came and went, but Wagg remained to hit the winning run off the final ball of the game, although it was a magnificent 6, off the back foot over extra cover earlier in the final over which lingers long in the memory.
Trent Bridge Wagg T20 Match-Winner 2008
The final memory of the decade is of a game featuring a young cricketer playing his first ever List A game for Derbyshire.
When Derbyshire met Leicestershire at Derby in the Nat West Pro40 League game under floodlights in September 2009, Wayne Madsen’s name was on the team sheet in a white ball game for the first time for his new county.
The Derbyshire side included fellow South Africans Tim Groenewald, Garry Park and Greg Smith, with Australian overseas star Chris Rogers captaining the side, alongside a smattering of youngsters including 18-year-old Chesney Hughes, plus Dan Redfern, Tom Poynton, Ross Whiteley and Jake Needham.
Leicestershire were restricted to 194-8 with Groenewald bowling an exemplary eight overs to take 3-33 and Needham and Smith both taking two wickets.
Derbyshire’s reply saw Madsen open with Rogers and the newcomer’s batting did not pale in the shadow of his more illustrious partner. With strokeplay slightly more conventional than Derbyshire supporters are used to now, Madsen played confidently for his 42 from 51 balls including five fours as he and Rogers added 99 for the first wicket in less than 20 overs.
Greg Smith batted sensibly for his 37 not out, but it was Rogers who batted as if on a different pitch to everybody else, reaching his hundred in 101 balls with 12 fours, adding a six as he hit the winning runs to ease his side to a nine-wicket win with more than five overs to spare.
The first decade of the new century may not have been as successful as some others, but it nonetheless delivered some tremendous and interesting games of cricket.
Derby Madsen’s List A Debut 2009
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