Derbyshire play a 50-over fixture against Bedfordshire on Sunday 27th July as a curtain-raiser to the Metro Bank One Day Cup competition.
Heritage Officer David Griffin previews the fixture.
This fixture will be played at Lancot Park Ground, Totternhoe, the home ground of Dunstable Town Cricket Club and will be just the second meeting between these two sides and the first since 1999.
This game will be played under List A – 50 overs – playing conditions but is not an official List A match and performances will not count towards players records.
The match in 1999 was in the NatWest Trophy first round and was staged at Wardown Park in Luton. Derbyshire were the losing finalists in the previous season, defeated by Lancashire at Lord’s, and were expected to beat their Minor County opposition, led by former England, Durham and Northamptonshire opener, Wayne Larkins.
Derbyshire’s captain Dominic Cork was injured and joined Kevin Dean and Trevor Smith on the sidelines so the side was skippered by Phil DeFreitas and the length of the injury list was apparent when Head Coach Colin Wells named himself as 13th man.
Things got no better when DeFreitas, having won the toss and choosing to bowl, limped off the field with a hamstring injury after bowling five overs. His opening partner, Andrew Harris, however, assumed the mantle of senior bowler in style, taking three wickets for ten runs in ten overs, a display which won him the Man of the Match award.
Bedfordshire totalled 187 for nine in 50 overs with Neil Stanley top-scoring with 37 and Paul Aldred taking three for 40.
In reply, Australian Michael Slater hit a breezy 22 with five fours before Adrian Rollins (80) and Matt Cassar (57) produced a second wicket partnership of 111 which took Derbyshire to the brink of victory.
Derbyshire’s target of 190 was reached with sixty balls and six wickets in hand.
