Wayne Madsen is synonymous with Derbyshire batting records but another landmark is looming into view tonight when The Falcons take on Northamptonshire Steelbacks in the T20 Vitality Blast competition at Derby.
Heritage Officer David Griffin explains.
Only six cricketers have made more appearances for Derbyshire than Wayne Madsen’s 481, with just Kim Barnett (813), Bob Taylor (812), Derek Morgan (567), Harry Elliott (520), Edwin Smith (505) and Geoff Miller (498) ahead of him.
However, just Barnett has played more games at The Central Co-op County Ground, Derby than Madsen, appearing in 288 first class and one day games at headquarters, and Madsen will join the exclusive 200 Club tonight.
Derbyshire have played matches at 21 different home venues and between 1921 and 1981 they played more first class games at Chesterfield than at Derby so for players in the 19th and 20th century, playing 200 games at a single home venue was almost impossible.
The best at Chesterfield, for example, is Bob Taylor who played there 143 times while four other players also appeared at Queen’s Park on 100 occasions or more – Harry Elliott, Geoff Miller, Derek Morgan and Edwin Smith – but a sign of the reduction in cricket played away from Derby is that Madsen has only played 30 matches at Chesterfield in 16 years.
Madsen’s first match at Derby was a County Championship fixture against Middlesex beginning on 21st July 2009 when, opening the batting, he scored 43 and 71 and to date he’s appeared in 97 first class games, 40 List A matches and 62 in T20 cricket at headquarters.
His combined runs tally of 8,987 is second only at Derby to Barnett’s 13,458 and includes 18 hundreds and 50 half centuries.
A measure of Madsen’s achievement is that of his contemporaries, Billy Godleman played 101 times for Derbyshire at Derby while Luis Reece is currently on 72 appearances. It requires an enormous commitment to one club, a high level of fitness and consistency, and much skill to be selected so many times in order to reach 200 appearances on one ground.
Asked to choose his finest moments on his home ground, Madsen selected two when I spoke to him recently at Old Trafford; “Standing on the balcony in 2012 raising the second division title trophy is top of the list, but I think that’s a close call with making the county’s fastest hundred against Durham in 2022 and walking off to be greeted by my wife and children.”
I can’t disagree with Madsen on either count, although I did particularly enjoy his magnificent 138 against Hampshire in a one day game in July 2014, when he demonstrated a wide range of strokes which he would develop to great effect in the shortest form of the game.
All being well, Madsen should play his 500th all format game for Derbyshire later this summer and with a new contract keeping him at the club for at least one further season, it’s quite possible that he’ll move past Edwin Smith and Derek Morgan on the overall list.
| Player | First Class | List A | T20 | Total |
| Kim Barnett | 136 | 152 | 0 | 288 |
| Wayne Madsen | 97 | 40 | 62 | 199 |
| Karl Krikken | 89 | 81 | 0 | 170 |
| Bob Taylor | 98 | 68 | 0 | 166 |
| Dominic Cork | 73 | 82 | 2 | 157 |
| Kevin Dean | 56 | 72 | 12 | 140 |
| Steve Stubbings | 68 | 65 | 4 | 137 |
| Allan Warner | 60 | 73 | 0 | 133 |
| Ole Mortensen | 58 | 69 | 0 | 127 |
| Chris Adams | 55 | 67 | 0 | 122 |
Wayne Madsen at Derby
First Class
97 matches 5,869 runs @ 37.62 with 14 100s and 32 50s – 12 wickets and 97 catches
List A
40 matches 1,386 runs @ 44.70 with 3 100s and 7 50s – 9 wickets and 17 catches
T20
62 matches 1,732 runs @ 33.30 with 1 100 and 12 50s – 7 wickets and 20 catches
