Statistical Preview: Glamorgan

Derbyshire return to Sofia Gardens, Cardiff, for the first time since 2017 to face Glamorgan in their final away fixture of the season.

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

This will be the 136^th encounter between these two sides, Derbyshire having won 48, Glamorgan 31, with 56 drawn games, including an abandoned fixture at Chesterfield in 1956.

They first met at Cardiff in 1921, a match famous for Bill Bestwick’s county record 10-40 in Glamorgan’s first innings, and most recently at Derby in April this year when the final day brought about a thrilling conclusion, despite the result being a draw.

Derbyshire’s highest innings total came in the game at Swansea in 2019 when they made 598-5 declared thanks to a career-best 227 by Billy Godleman and 143 from Tom Lace. Harvey Hosein was unbeaten on 91 when the declaration came.

Glamorgan’s best came in 1951 when two players made hundreds and four others passed fifty in taking their side to 587-8 declared at Cardiff.

Derbyshire experienced a purple patch against Glamorgan between 2007 and 2014 when they won seven and drew six of thirteen consecutive matches, although honours have been even in recent years; in the last 11 matches there have been seven draws with either side winning two apiece.

There have been 53 centuries scored by Derbyshire players, and in addition to Godleman’s 227, there have been two further double hundreds, both by Peter Kirsten.

The best of Kirsten’s six double hundreds for the county, and arguably his best century ever, came against Glamorgan in 1980 when a one hundred overs first innings restriction applied in the county championship. At tea, by which time 82 overs had been bowled, Kirsten was 105 not out; when Derbyshire were forced to close their innings 18 overs later Kirsten had taken his score to 213. It was a spellbinding innings full of craft, timing and precision, and a joy to behold.

Two years earlier, Kirsten had become the youngest Derbyshire player to score a double century, against Glamorgan at Chesterfield, a record he ceded to Chesney Hughes in 2013, and it was on the same ground that Adrian Rollins became the only Derbyshire player to make a hundred before lunch against Glamorgan.

Until this season, Luke Sutton (120) was the only Derbyshire wicketkeeper to score a first class ton against Glamorgan before Brooke Guest scored hundreds in each innings of the game at Derby.

Derbyshire’s record partnership against Glamorgan is 291 for the third wicket between Godleman and Lace during the game at Swansea in 2019, while for a splendid statistical quirk, the match at Derby in 2011 was notable for featuring a century partnership for the tenth wicket in both sides’ first innings.

In a similar vein, during the 2019 fixture at Derby, Anuj Dal and Ravi Rampaul became the first and only pairing in Derbyshire’s history to record a fifty-run partnership for the tenth wicket in both innings.

Only one player has carried his bat through a completed innings – Kim Barnett at Derby in 1993, scoring 120 not out in a total of 214 all out.

Derbyshire’s bowlers have taken five wickets in an innings 96 times, with a best at Derby by George Pope of 7-34 in 1948, although the legendary pairing of Cliff Gladwin and Les Jackson took five wickets more times than anyone – Gladwin performing the feat on eight occasions, Jackson seven.

Most recently, Suranga Lakmal took 5-82 in the game at Derby earlier this season.

The rarer feat of taking ten wickets in a match has been performed 12 times, most recently by Tony Palladino (10-81) in 2018 although the best match figures are 14-111 by Bill Bestwick at Cardiff in 1921.

Slow left-armer, David Steele, took the sole hat trick against Glamorgan, at Derby in 1980.

Just 13 Derbyshire bowlers have taken 5 wickets in an innings on debut, but none were younger than the 16 year old Hamidullah Qadri who became the only Derbyshire bowler to take five on debut against Glamorgan when he delivered a match-winning performance (five for 60) at Cardiff in 2017. In that game, Qadri became the youngest player to play for Derbyshire in a championship match and the youngest to take a first class wicket.