Statistical Preview: Nottinghamshire

Derbyshire’s fourth LV= County Championship game of the season means a first visit by Nottinghamshire to the Incora County Ground for a red ball game since the sides met there in August 2017.

Heritage Officer David Griffin previews the match and looks at the statistical highlights of the past.

These two local rivals have been playing each other almost since Derbyshire were formed in 1871. Their first encounter, and just Derbyshire’s 11th first-class match, was at Trent Bridge in 1875, the hosts winning by 93 runs.

In all, there have been 205 scheduled games between the two counties, although 4 were abandoned without a ball bowled; Derbyshire have won 45, Nottinghamshire 66, with 90 draws.

Derbyshire have been the home side on 101 occasions with most matches – 46 – played at Ilkeston, a venue nestled right on the Derbyshire / Nottinghamshire border and home to some superb matches and performances. The ground is sadly no longer used, Nottinghamshire being the last visitors in 1994.

Derbyshire’s biggest wins are by an innings and 114 runs at Ilkeston in 1951, and by 303 runs at Derby in 1996.

Both matches featured masterful performances from some of Derbyshire finest players; in the 1951 game, Cliff Gladwin took 8-40 to destroy the Nottinghamshire second innings, ending the game with 11 wickets, and in the 1996 fixture Chris Adams, Kim Barnett, and Dean Jones all registered hundreds and Philip DeFreitas took 9-109 in the match.

Nottinghamshire’s biggest margins of victory are by an innings and 250 runs at Derby in 1885, and by 330 runs at Chesterfield in 1904.

Derbyshire have lost on three occasions by one wicket and won once by the same margin, Michael Holding hitting the winning runs at Derby in 1989 in his final first class match.

Derbyshire’s last home win was in 1998, but in 2020 they recorded a memorable and record-breaking win at Trent Bridge, successfully chasing an inter-county record of 365 runs to win by three wickets.

The highest score ever made for Derbyshire against Nottinghamshire is 264 by Pat Vaulkhard at Trent Bridge in 1946. It was his first and only hundred and remains the third highest individual score ever made for the county.

There have been three further double hundreds – by Arnold Hamer (227), Charlie Elliott (215) and Denis Smith (202*) – at Trent Bridge, and just one at home, by Kim Barnett (217) at Derby in 1991 after Derbyshire had been forced to follow-on.

Derbyshire’s batsmen have scored 78 first class hundreds against Nottinghamshire, John Morris leading the way with 6, while the most recent came in the win at Trent Bridge in 2020 when Leus du Plooy made an inventive 130. Of the current squad, Billy Godleman also has a century to his name, 121 at Trent Bridge in 2017. Wayne Madsen, Derbyshire’s most prolific batsman of the 21st century will doubtless be looking to add Nottinghamshire to his centuries collection, his highest score being 74 at Nottingham in 2013.

Two Derbyshire players have recorded hundreds before lunch, ‘Dusty’ Rhodes at Ilkeston in 1949, and John Morris at Derby in 1989, and Stan Worthington is the only player to score a century in each innings, making 103 and 110* at Ilkeston in 1938.

Five years earlier, at Ilkeston, Worthington, one of Derbyshire greatest cricketers, scored 108 out of 117 in 70 minutes completing his hundred in 60 minutes. This remained the fastest ever century for Derbyshire until 1992 when Chris Adams broke the record.

The partnership for the second wicket of 349 between Charlie Elliott and John Eggar at Trent Bridge in 1947 is still the county’s second highest partnership for any wicket; and that 349 overtook the previous record of 328 set by Vaulkhard and Denis Smith just one year earlier on the same ground.

The highest partnership at home remains the 240 for the fourth wicket by Hasan Adnan and Chris Bassano at Derby in 2004, while the highest last wicket partnership came at Nottingham in 2020 when du Plooy and Sam Conners added 80 runs, with Conners share being just five.

Derbyshire’s highest team score was at Derby in 2001 when they scored 572 all out in a game which produced the highest match aggregate of runs in Derbyshire’s history – 1,655.

Nottinghamshire batted first and made 526 all out and after Derbyshire had replied with 572, the visitors scored 557-5 in their second innings; six hundreds and three fifties were scored and in gloriously hot weather most spectators ended up bored to tears. The farce was confirmed when Derbyshire wicketkeeper Karl Krikken removed his pads and bowled seven overs, while his captain, Dominic Cork, bowled gentle off breaks.

John Wright (141 out of 259) carried his bat at Chesterfield in 1982 and Kim Barnett (156 out of 330) repeated the feat at Nottingham in 1992 in what is regarded as one of his, and Derbyshire’s finest innings.

Derbyshire bowlers have taken five wickets in an innings against Nottinghamshire on 94 occasions, Arnold Warren heading the list with eight instances, although the best analysis was achieved by Arthur Morton who took 9-71 at Blackwell in 1911.

The most recent occurrence came in 2007 when Jon Clare took 5-90 on his debut at Chesterfield, the only bowler to achieve this feat for the county against Nottinghamshire.

The rarer ten-wicket match feat has been performed 19 times, Arnold Warren’s 15-112 at Welbeck in 1904 topping the list, while the most recent instance came in 1984 when slow left-armer Dallas Moir took 10-140 at Trent Bridge.

That match was one of the most remarkable in Derbyshire’s history as they won after following on for only the third time. The feat, which has never since been repeated saw Nottinghamshire bat first and make 361 before skittling Derbyshire for just 139. Following on, Derbyshire made 381 and then bowled Nottinghamshire out for 131 to win by 28 runs.

Derbyshire bowlers have performed the hat-trick twice in these games; Frank Davidson, brother of the more celebrated George, performed the feat at Derby in 1898, and George Pope matched it at Ilkeston in 1947.

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