Derbyshire face Northamptonshire at Wantage Road in their 12th game of the County Championship season, having drawn the corresponding game at Derby in May.
Heritage Officer David Griffin previews the match.
That game at Derby saw the home side, set a nominal 371 to win the game on the final day, hold out for a thrilling draw with the score on 261 for nine when stumps were drawn having been 149 for seven and seemingly on course to lose. Zak Chappell scored 72 batting at number nine and Anuj Dal batted faced 139 balls in scoring an unbeaten 31.
These two sides have met on 175 occasions in first-class cricket, with Derbyshire winning 52, Northamptonshire, 61, with 61 matches drawn plus one complete abandonment at Chesterfield in 2016.
In 2018, Derbyshire completed the double over Northamptonshire, winning by 39 runs as Matt Critchley took 10 wickets in the match at Chesterfield, and winning by a much tighter margin – one wicket – at Northampton, with Harvey Hosein making a match-winning, unbeaten 54.
Derbyshire’s highest innings total in these games is 569 at Northampton in 2012, a match in which Wayne Madsen and Tom Poynton added a remarkable 261 runs for the ninth wicket in Derbyshire’s only innings. Even more remarkably, that partnership wasn’t even a record for Derbyshire, falling short of Warren and Chapman’s world record partnership for the same wicket of 283 at Blackwell in 1910.
Derbyshire’s lowest total is 46 at Northampton in 1912 in a very low-scoring match; Derbyshire batted first and made 67 all out and the hosts replied with 56 all out. Derbyshire then made 46 in the third innings before Northamptonshire made 58 for four in the last innings to win by six wickets.
Northamptonshire’s highest team total is 647 for five – the fourth highest score ever made against Derbyshire – which secured them an innings victory at Derby in 2003. Their lowest total is 42 all out, at Derby in 1908.
Derbyshire’s batsmen have scored 67 centuries against Northamptonshire with Wayne Madsen’s 231 not out in 2012 at the top of the list. Michael Di Venuto scored 230 at Derby in 2002, and Peter Kirsten made 209, also at Derby in 1980.
The earliest hundred came in 1905, when Levi Wright scored 195 at Derby, while the most recent was in the second innings at Chesterfield in 2018, when Wayne Madsen made 116.
Another Wright, John, scored five hundreds against Northamptonshire, more than any other player.
Matt Critchley, who scored an unbeaten 137 against Northamptonshire at Derby in 2015, remains the youngest player to score a first-class century for Derbyshire – he was aged just 18 years and 270 days.
Luis Reece (168) made a hundred on his first-class debut for Derbyshire against Northamptonshire in the opening game of the 2017 season with Billy Godleman (156) also making a century. This was the second instance of both opening batsmen making centuries in the same innings against Northamptonshire, Madsen and Chris Rogers having performed the feat at Northampton in 2010.
The Reece-Godleman partnership in 2017 was 333, a record at the time for Derbyshire’s first wicket in all first-class cricket, and the third highest for any wicket overall for the county. Reece and Harry Came have since overtaken the first wicket record, adding 360 against Glamorgan at Derby in 2023.
Northamptonshire’s highest individual score in these contests is Fred Bakewell’s 241 not out at Chesterfield in 1936, while the best innings bowling figures were recorded by George Thompson who took nine for 64 at Northampton in 1906. The best match figures were posted by Michael Allen who took 13 for 98 at Northampton in 1961. Allen subsequently played for Derbyshire between 1964 and 1966.
Rob Bailey, who enjoyed a lengthy career at Wantage Road before joining Derbyshire, holds the record for most first-class hundreds for Northamptonshire against Derbyshire, making six, of which two were at Derby, in 1986 and 1993.
Derbyshire players have produced some impressive all-round performances over the years against Northamptonshire; Garnet Lee, at Northampton in 1927, scored 100 and took 12-143 in the match, one of only three instances of a player making a century and taking 10 wickets in a game for the county.
A year later Lee scored 30 and 155 and took five for 57, while George Pope, at Chesterfield in 1947, scored a century and took six for 43 in Northamptonshire’s first innings.
Jon Clare also had a fine all-round match at Northampton in 2008 scoring 129 not out, and then taking seven for 74 in the hosts’ only innings.
The best innings analysis by a Derbyshire bowler is nine for 43 by Dominic Cork at Derby in 1995. Arguably at the height of his bowling powers, Cork’s performance was masterly, bowling unchanged throughout the innings for 22 overs. He added four for 50 in the second innings, but, despite his Herculean effort, the visitors won by four wickets.
The best innings figures at Chesterfield are Mike Hendrick’s eight for 50 in 1972, when, almost as a pre-cursor to Cork’s effort 23 years later, he also bowled unchanged throughout the innings for 22 overs.
There have been 25 instances of bowlers taking 10 wickets in a match for Derbyshire against Northamptonshire with Sam Cadman’s 14-104 at Northampton in 1920 at the top of the table.
England leg-spinner, Tommy Mitchell performed the feat on five occasions, and another leg-spinner, Matt Critchley was the latest to perform the feat, taking 10-194 in the win at Chesterfield in 2018.
Two Derbyshire bowlers have performed the hat trick in these fixtures – Harry Storer at Chesterfield in 1922 and Les Townsend at Northampton in 1931.
