Statistical Preview: Kent

Derbyshire conclude their home season with a County Championship fixture against Kent who visit The Incora County Ground for the first time since 2018. Heritage Officer David Griffin previews the match and looks at the statistical highlights of the past.

The sides have met on 139 occasions in first class cricket, Derbyshire winning 40 games and Kent 57. A further 42 matches were drawn, while a further match was abandoned with a ball bowled, at Chesterfield in September 2017.

Derbyshire’s highest team total is 583-4 at Derby in 2009 when Chris Rogers scored 208 and Garry Park 178. Of more statistical significance, however, is that during the course of this innings, there were four century partnerships, a unique occurrence in Derbyshire’s history.

Rogers and Wayne Madsen added 216 for the first wicket, Rogers and Park 125 for the second wicket, Park and Greg Smith 118 for the third wicket and Park and John Sadler an unbroken 100 for the fifth wicket.

Derbyshire’s lowest all out total against Kent is 36, at Wirksworth in 1874, although despite the paucity of that second innings total, Derbyshire still won, by 33 runs.

Kent’s highest team total is 615 all out at Derby in 1908 which unsurprisingly led them to an innings and 234 run win, Kent’s largest margin of victory.

Kent’s lowest total is 25 all out which came in their defeat at Wirksworth in 1874. The match-winner for Derbyshire was their first fast bowling champion, Bill Mycroft, who recorded match figures of 8-23 off 50 four-ball overs.

Derbyshire’s widest margin of victory came in 1950 when Cliff Gladwin’s nine wickets in the match and Alan Revill’s 96 saw Derbyshire record an innings and 98 run victory at Derby.

A quirky statistic arose from the game at Derby in 1987 when both sides were all out for 287 in their first innings, only the fourth time in Derbyshire’s history that matching all out first innings totals have been made. There has been no such repeat occurrence since.

An indication of how county cricket used to be shared out around individual counties is confirmed by a look at the list of grounds on which these two sides have met in first class cricket; Blackheath, Burton-on-Trent (two grounds), Buxton, Canterbury, Catford, Chatham, Chesterfield, Dartford, Derby, Dover, Folkestone, Gillingham, Gravesend, Ilkeston, Maidstone, Sheffield, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells (two grounds), and Wirksworth.

There have been 45 first class hundreds scored against Kent, the first by Ludford Docker (107) at Maidstone in 1881 and the most recent by Wayne Madsen (163) and Shiv Thakor (123) at Canterbury in 2016.

Unusually, both Madsen and Thakor had scored hundreds earlier in the season against Kent when the sides met at Derby.

Chris Adams’ 216 at Maidstone in 1995 remains the highest individual score, while Donald Carr, Wayne Madsen and Donald Carr have all made three hundreds, more than any other player.

Carr (1959) and Ian Hall (1965) both scored a hundred in each innings against Kent, although the last player to perform the feat against any county was Billy Godleman who scored 108 and 105* at Derby in 2015.

Two batsmen have carried their bat in a completed innings against Kent; Denis Smith, who scored 57 out of 112 at Ilkeston in 1939, and Alan Hill, who made 48 out of 127 at Maidstone in 1984.

There have been 119 instances of Derbyshire bowlers taking five wickets in an innings, beginning with Mycroft’s 5-8 at Wirksworth in 1874, and most recently Tony Palladino’s 5-113 at Derby in 2018.

Mycroft took five in an innings 13 times against Kent – taking 113 wickets against them in 14 matches at an average of 11.07.

The best innings figures, however, belong to Stan Worthington who took 8-41 at Chesterfield in 1928, a feat almost matched by Kevin Dean who took 8-52 at Canterbury in 2000.

The rarer feat of ten wickets in a match has been performed 15 times with Mycroft once again to the fore with 3 instances and a best of 12-42 at Catford in 1875.

Three bowlers have taken hat-tricks against Kent – all at Derby – Joseph Marlow in 1884, Dominic Cork in 1994, and Kevin Dean in 1998, while the even more unusual feat of taking 3 wickets in 4 balls has been performed twice, at Derby in 1876 by Walter Hickton, and at Canterbury in 1931 by Les Townsend.

Two debutants have taken five Kent wickets in an innings; George Hay (5-15) at Derby in 1875, and Alan Mellor (5-52) at Maidstone in 1978.

Another unusual statistic arose from the game at Derby in 2018 when for only the second time in their history, and the first time since 1901, Derbyshire followed on despite scoring 400 in their first innings.

Last 10 results between Derbyshire and Kent:

2012  Canterbury – Kent won by 222 runs

2014  Derby – Drawn

2014  Canterbury – Kent won by ten wickets

2015  Canterbury – Derbyshire won by eight wickets

2015  Derby – Drawn

2016  Derby – Kent won by seven wickets

2016  Canterbury – Drawn

2017  Canterbury – Kent won by 169 runs

2017  Chesterfield – Abandoned

2018  Derby – Kent won by six wickets