Derbyshire’s first official game of the 2025 season is a three-day friendly against Oxford University Centre of Cricketing Excellence (UCCE) at The County Ground, Derby beginning on 25 March.
Heritage Officer David Griffin previews the match.
There is a long history of Derbyshire playing first class fixtures against Oxford University – 24 matches between 1928 and 1995 – Derbyshire also faced Oxford UCCE in first class matches at the Parks in Oxford in 2005 and 2006, both matches ending in draws.
However, these games no longer have first class status and this will be Derbyshire’s 18th non-first-class game against a UCCE (or MCCU as they used to be known), but their first against Oxford UCCE.
Recent highlights for Derbyshire players against Oxford UCCE include hundreds by Jon Moss in 2005 and Chris Taylor – on debut – in The Parks in 2005 and 2006 respectively.
Back in 1976 Phil Sharpe made 228 at Oxford – the highest individual score for the county against any university side – while Stan Worthington, the only player to score a Test match hundred for England while on the Derbyshire staff scored the first hundred (174) in 1936, a valuable early season knock during a summer which saw Derbyshire win the County Championship title.
Derbyshire’s current president, Alan Hill, also made a century in May 1974.
With the ball, the best innings figures were recorded by the Indian Test spinner, Srinivas Venkataraghavan at the Bass Ground, Burton-on-Trent in 1975.
Although there have been 17 instances of Derbyshire bowlers taking five wickets in an innings, nobody has managed it since Fred Swarbrook took five for 34 in 1976 in The Parks. The first instance was in 1928 when Garnet Lee took five for 42 at the same ground.
One can only image what was going through the minds of the university students when they faced Derbyshire in 1939. Fast bowler Bill Copson, who had opened the bowling for England and took 140 wickets at 12.80 in the 1936 Championship-winning season recorded figures of five for nine and five for 12, a match analysis of 10 for 21, the most inexpensive 10 wicket haul in Derbyshire’s history.
Although this is not a first-class fixture, players will doubtless want to take the opportunity to blow the winter blues away while some will welcome the chance to stake a claim for a place in the first team ahead of the opening County Championship match.
