The newly-constituted County Championship begins on 8 April 2021. Only in 2012 and 2019, when Derbyshire played Northamptonshire and Durham respectively at Derby in matches beginning on 5 April, has Derbyshire’s county season begun earlier.
The omens are good, however; that 2012 game ended in a win for Derbyshire and subsequent promotion, while the 2019 fixture also ended in a home win.
Heritage Officer, David Griffin, surveys the fixtures list for the first half of the summer.
The initial ten-game first class fixtures list for the 2021 season is quite different to all those previously published for any season in the history of the game here in the UK.
Never before have so many of the fixtures been unknown before the start of the summer owing to the new structure of the first-class game which will see teams moving into one of another three divisions after their initial ten matches.
In the past, a tour fixture was often included on the fixture list with the caveat of “…if Derbyshire not in the Benson and Hedges Cup Final…” – and, of course, in 2020, the participants in the final game of the Bob Willis Trophy were not determined until the final group game of the season, but in 2021, all 18 counties will not know who their opponents will be in their final games of the summer until mid-July. It could make for an interesting summer.
Derbyshire are in a six-county group alongside Durham, Essex, Nottinghamshire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire and will play all five sides home and away.
They begin with a trip down the M42 to Birmingham where Warwickshire will await them at Edgbaston. Derbyshire last met Warwickshire there in 2018 when, despite a first innings 144 by Wayne Madsen, the hosts recorded an eight-wicket win.
Derbyshire’s last win against Warwickshire came in 1993 at Edgbaston when John Morris top-scored with 95 in an innings victory.
Worcestershire will be the visitors to the Incora County Ground for the second fixture, with Derbyshire looking to reverse their defeat in the last game between the two sides in 2017, before a long trip up to the north east for their third match, against Durham at Chester-le-Street.
Heavy rain reduced the playing time significantly in the corresponding game in 2020 although not before Luis Reece had made a splendid 122 in Derbyshire’s only innings. That draw meant that Derbyshire’s wait for an away win against Durham goes on; they last won at Chester-le-Street in 2004.
Game four sees Nottinghamshire making the short trip down the A52 for their first visit since 2017 when they won by an innings and 61 runs before the group stages reach the halfway mark as Derbyshire play their fifth game, against Essex at Chelmsford.
The 2019 County Champions and 2020 Bob Willis Trophy winners will certainly present a huge challenge to Derbyshire, but also a wonderful opportunity for our players to pit their wits – and skills – against the best side on the circuit.
Derbyshire’s last visit to Chelmsford was in 2016, although their last win there was by ten wickets – in three days – in 2012, when Wes Durston made a fine hundred.
Durham are next up for Derbyshire at the Incora County Ground and a re-run of the 2019 fixture, when Derbyshire won by 125 runs, would be a perfect start to the second half of the group games. On that occasion, Harvey Hosein top-scored in each innings, making 78 and 82, with Luis Reece taking six wickets.
The lovely setting of New Road, Worcester will stage the seventh Derbyshire game, with everyone connected with the game hoping that the flooding troubles of 2019 are not repeated. On that occasion, Derbyshire saw their fixture moved to Kidderminster, when they won by 82 runs with a fine, unbeaten 132 from Tom Lace and wickets shared between Reece, Ravi Rampaul, Tony Palladino and Fynn Hudson-Prentice.
Game eight – at Derby – will be Warwickshire’s first game there since 2013 when they beat Derbyshire in the final game of the season. This will be only the fourth first class game between these two sides at Derby this century.
The penultimate match, at Trent Bridge, will offer a reminder to all Derbyshire supporters of the outstanding Derbyshire performance of the 2020 season when they chased down 365 to defeat Nottinghamshire in early August.
Having not defeated Nottinghamshire since 2002, the 2020 win was both welcome, and highly deserved. Leus du Plooy made a quite magical 130 in the first innings and then after Billy Godleman had scored 86, Fynn Hudson-Prentice made an inspired, match-winning 91 not out to take his side to victory.
It was Derbyshire’s highest successful inter-county run chase.
The final group fixture will be staged at Queen’s Park, Chesterfield where the visitors will be Essex for the first time since 2014 when, in scorching hot weather, the two sides played out an entertaining draw; Nick Browne scoring a hundred in each innings for the visitors, with Madsen and Shivnarine Chanderpaul both being dismissed in the 90s for Derbyshire.
Thereafter, the subsequent fixtures will be determined based on the finishing positions in the three initial groups.
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