Derbyshire conclude the 2024 season with a visit to the Uptonsteel County Ground to face neighbours Leicestershire for the final County Championship game of the summer.
Heritage Officer David Griffin previews the match.
This will be the 222nd scheduled first-class match between Derbyshire and Leicestershire. No other team has been Derbyshire’s opposition more often in this form of the game.
Of the first 221 games, honours have been close to even, Derbyshire winning 63 times, Leicestershire 64, with 94 draws, one of which was an abandoned fixture, at Chesterfield in 1926. The two fixtures last summer both ended in draws, with the game at Derby ending farcically.
When Leicestershire’s second innings closed on 281, Derbyshire were left needing 54 to win the game. There were three overs left on the final day and with two subtracted for the innings break, that meant just one over remained.
However, confusion over the regulations left umpires and some of the players and coaches believing there were three overs left. A delay of 20 minutes ensued before the umpires decided that only a single over remained which was bowled by Colin Ackermann. Even that had an element of farce about it, as he raced through the over to ensure Leicestershire avoided a point deduction for their slow over rate.
The fixture between the two counties earlier this season was at Derby in April when the visitors enjoyed the better of the game, making 574 for seven declared and forcing Derbyshire to follow-on. Derbyshire were still 183 in arrears with three wickets remaining at the close of play on the third day but no play was possible on the final day due to heavy rain.
Derbyshire’s cricketers have enjoyed playing Leicestershire since they first met at Leicester in 1894 scoring 109 centuries, some thirty more than they have scored against any other opposition (Nottinghamshire 79).
Six of the hundreds were doubles, the most recent by Shan Masood at Leicester in April 2022, while the highest remains Kim Barnett’s unbeaten 239 on the same ground in 1988. Barnett also scored an unbeaten 200 at Derby in 1996 although it’s hard to believe that any of the 109 tons were better than Mohammad Azharuddin’s 212 at Leicester in 1991 when Barnett, a fast-scoring player in his own right, made just eight runs while Azharuddin scored 100 runs at the other end.
Barnett’s seven first-class hundreds against Leicestershire are a record for Derbyshire against any other county, and just to confirm his dominance over them, he also scored a hundred before lunch at Leicester in 1997.
Derbyshire’s win at Leicester in 2022 was the first under Mickey Arthur and Derbyshire’s first by an innings since they beat the same opponents at Derby in 2011.
There have been four hundreds by Derbyshire wicketkeepers in these fixtures, Bill Storer making 142 at Leicester in 1896 and an unbeaten 216 at Chesterfield in 1899. The other hundreds came from Bernie Maher (121*) at Derby in 1988 and Brooke Guest (116) at Derby in 2021.
Guest’s hundred came in partnership with Anuj Dal (106) adding 227 for the sixth wicket, a county record for that wicket at the time, while the highest partnership stands at 316 for the third wicket between Adrian Rollins and Barnett at Leicester in 1997.
Derbyshire bowlers have recorded five wickets in an innings 143 times. Bill Bestwick performing the feat 18 times, although the best innings figures remain the remarkable ten for 64 by Tommy Mitchell at Leicester in 1935. Only Bill Bestwick’s ten for 40 against Glamorgan at Cardiff in 1921 betters Mitchell’s effort.
The best match figures are Les Jackson’s 13 for 73 at Derby in 1962.
Three Derbyshire bowlers have performed the hat trick in these matches, Ole Mortensen taking the first, at Derby in 1987 before Kevin Dean grabbed three in three at Leicester in 2000, with Tony Palladino completing the trio, also at Leicester, in 2012.
Only four bowlers have taken eight wickets before lunch for Derbyshire, George Walker taking eight for 23 at Leicester in 1895 becoming the first to do it.
Leicestershire’s highest individual score against Derbyshire is 221 by Brad Hodge at Oakham School in 2004, while Marcus Harris became the fifth Leicestershire player to score a double hundred, making 214 at Derby earlier this year.
The highest individual score at Leicester remains Barry Duddleston’s 202 in 1979.
With the ball David Millns’ nine for 37 at Derby in 1991 are the best innings figures for Leicestershire, although the best at Leicester were by Thomas Jayes who took nine for 78 in 1905.
The best match figures of 13 for 61 belong to Eward Astill who bowled Leicestershire to victory at Derby in 1908; the best at Leicester is 13 for 102 by Freddy Geeson in 1898, matched by John King in 1920.
