The publication of the fixtures means the 2022 cricket season is getting closer, and as usual, Heritage Officer, David Griffin, casts his eye over the opposition and venues.
Derbyshire will return to the famous university city of Oxford for a friendly fixture in early April against Oxford UCCE. No longer granted first class status, games against UCCE sides – especially this early in the season – offer opportunities for players to find their feet before the first-class action begins.
Derbyshire played the most recent of their twenty-one matches at The Parks in 2006 when Chris Taylor scored a century on his first-class debut for the county. The game in 2022 will be the first meeting between the sides under non first-class regulations.
The summer begins in earnest with a game against Middlesex at Lord’s, the first time Derbyshire will have begun their first-class season at the Home of Cricket since 1986. This game is the first of six County Championship games in seven weeks and will certainly test the strength of the squad.
The home campaign sees Sussex as Derbyshire’s first opponents of the season on home turf and The Incora County Ground faithful will be looking for a repeat of the win at Hove in the final game of the 2021 season. Derbyshire also prevailed, by 181 runs, the last time these sides met at Derby, in 2019, when Luis Reece made a magnificent 184.
Despite the heavy workload at the start of the season, at least travelling shouldn’t be an issue; Derbyshire’s next four Championship fixtures are all inside the East Midlands, with a visit to the Uptonsteel County Ground to face Leicestershire, before back-to-back home games against Glamorgan and Worcestershire, followed by a short trip down the A52 to face Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.
On 27th May, Vitality Blast T20 cricket arrives and Derbyshire launch the competition with a home fixture against Birmingham Bears. Over the course of the next fortnight, Derbyshire will play a further seven T20 matches including a Friday night clash with Nottinghamshire at Derby, with trips to Leicester, Headingley, Emirates Old Trafford and Worcester.
The Chesterfield Festival starts on Sunday 12th June and spectators will get a glimpse of Middlesex at Queen’s Park for the first time in a Championship game since 1983 when the visitors fielded nine England Test cricketers.
The following Saturday provides Derbyshire supporters with another highlight – the visit of Yorkshire to Chesterfield for a Vitality Blast fixture with a further four games scheduled for the following week.
As usual, Derbyshire miss playing two counties twice in this competition, and in 2022 it’s Worcestershire at home, and Durham away.
Into July and the Vitality Blast quarter finals occupy four days before Derbyshire visit Durham at Chester-le-Street as the Championship resumes and a week later, Nottinghamshire are the visitors to Derby in the same competition.
To end the month, Derbyshire go to New Road to face Worcestershire in their final four-day game before the September resumption.
August is given over to the RL50 Cup, although Derbyshire are scheduled to face Shropshire in a friendly on the last day of July.
Derbyshire will welcome Glamorgan, Hampshire and Kent to the Incora County Ground, while Yorkshire will be our opponents at Chesterfield.
In a sign of the times, it will be Derbyshire’s first one-day match against Kent for a decade, and their first against Hampshire since 2014. That latter game was notable for a huge Derbyshire victory – by 136 runs – and hundreds for Wes Durston and Wayne Madsen. Only Madsen and Alex Hughes of the current squad have faced Kent in a List A game for Derbyshire.
The venues for away fixtures in this competition include Northampton, Worcester and Chelmsford, plus a venue to be determined against Lancashire. The possible inclusion of Matt Critchley in The Hundred means that his and Derbyshire’s paths may not cross in 2022 despite Derbyshire being drawn to play Essex in.
At the end of August, the RL50 knockout ties take place ahead of the run-in to the Championship.
Durham come to Derby in early September and Leicestershire at the end, with a trip to Cardiff to face Glamorgan in between. Derbyshire haven’t played at Sofia Gardens since their win under lights in the pink ball game of June 2017 when debutant Hamidullah Qadri took five wickets on his debut for the county.
The season should end on 29th September, assuming the game against Leicestershire goes the distance, the latest any Derbyshire season has ended, the previous last day being 28th September in 2017 when they signed off the season with a win against Gloucestershire at Bristol.
Overall then, the season appears a bit better balanced with the Vitality Blast brought forward into a block following those opening seven first class games, and many will be pleased to see that five Championship games will be played over the course of June and July.
August remains something of an oasis for county cricket supporters, just 8 days cricket unless Derbyshire reach the latter stages of the RL50 Cup, but with The Hundred here to stay, this is very much how the fixtures lists may look for the near future.
One thing is for certain, writing this in the gloom of the second half of January at least allows one to look forward to the heady – and warmer – days of summer.
2022 Membership – One Club, Our County
2022 Membership is on sale now, with supporters able to attend a full season of Derbyshire home cricket for the first time since 2019, along with a host of other great benefits for just £179!
