Derbyshire’s next fixture is the third of three consecutive away games in five days in the Royal London One-Day Cup competition and sees the side travel to Chester-le-Street to play Durham.
Heritage Officer and Statistician, David Griffin, looks at the statistical background to the game.
Derbyshire and Durham have met on 39 occasions in List A cricket, their first encounter being when Durham were still a Minor County. That game, in 1985 at Derby, produced a major shock as Derbyshire were comprehensively defeated by seven wickets in the opening round of the NatWest Trophy.
Derbyshire’s side was a strong one – Barnett, Morris, Miller, Holding, Warner, Newman and Mortensen all featured – but it was a former Derbyshire player, John Lister, who made 42 opening the innings, who outscored all but Barnett of the Derbyshire batsmen as Derbyshire lost to a Minor County for the first time in one-day cricket.
The playing record to date shows 16 wins for Derbyshire, 21 for Durham, with one No Result game and 1 abandonment.
Their first clash as first-class counties came at Jesmond in 1992 when a John Morris-inspired Derbyshire triumphed by 80 runs in a Benson and Hedges group match. Batting first, Derbyshire made 281-9 with Morris scoring 121 from 118 balls including four sixes, all of which were deposited out of the ground.
Dean Jones and Ian Botham made six runs between them in Durham’s reply as Dominic Cork’s 4-26 ensured a relatively straightforward victory.
Both sides have achieved one-run victories against each other; Durham’s came at Derby in 2000 despite Matthew Cassar’s brilliant 126, and Derbyshire’s was at the same venue in 2008 when Rikki Clarke ran out Neil Killeen off the very last ball of the match.
Derbyshire’s largest margins of victory have been by 107 runs at Derby in 2013 and by eight wickets at Derby in 1994. Durham’s leading wins have been by 138 runs at Chester-le-Street in 2000 and by seven wickets on four occasions.
Derbyshire’s highest innings total is still the 281-9 batting first at Jesmond in 1992 closely followed by 280-6 batting second to win at Darlington in 1994. Their lowest all-out total is 82 at Chester-le-Street in 2004.
Durham’s highest total is 298-7 at Chester-le-Street in 2008 and their lowest is 110 all out at Derby in 2013.
Derbyshire have had the upper hand in recent seasons in these games, winning three of the last five, with one loss and a No Result game in 2017, although their last win at Chester-le-Street was in 2007 when Ian Harvey’s 60 off 59 balls saw the visitors home by four wickets.
There have been five Derbyshire centurions against Durham; in addition to Morris and Cassar, Ben Slater scored 119 at Derby in 2016, Chris Taylor an unbeaten 111 at Derby in 2006, and Chris Adams 100 not out at Chesterfield in 1996.
Luis Reece scored 92 in the win at Derby in 2018.
Two bowlers have taken five wickets in an innings for Derbyshire – Dominic Cork recorded figures of 5-43 at Darlington in 1994 in a NatWest Trophy game played in blistering hot conditions, but which went into a second day following a huge thunderstorm on the first day. Derbyshire had faltered on 19-2 chasing 279 to win, but 89 from Tim O’Gorman and a sublime 74 not out from Mohammad Azharuddin saw Derbyshire home.
Rob Bailey took 5-45 at Chester-le-Street in 2000 – the first time he had bowled for Derbyshire in a List A game.
Club Membership! Never miss a moment this summer with Club Membership. That’s all regular season home cricket for just £179. Buy online or call 01332 388 101.
