For their next game in the Specsavers County Championship, Derbyshire make the short journey to The Fischer County Ground to play Leicestershire.
Heritage Officer and Statistician, David Griffin, looks at the statistical background to the game.
These two counties are very well-acquainted; this will be their 214th scheduled meeting in first-class cricket. Derbyshire have won 60 of the previous 213 games, Leicestershire 64, with 88 draws and one match abandoned without a ball bowled (at Chesterfield in 1926).
Derbyshire’s highest total in these games is 533 all out at Derby in 2017, with Leicestershire’s highest total coming in the same game – 619 all out. In that Leicestershire total, Jeevan Mendis conceded the greatest number of runs by a bowler in a single innings in Derbyshire’s history, taking 6-204 from 52.3 overs.
Derbyshire’s highest team total at Leicester is 478-8 in 2009, while Leicestershire’s highest total at their headquarters is 552-6 in 2005.
Both sides have recorded the same lowest all-out total – 36; in Derbyshire’s case it was at Chesterfield in 1905, and for Leicestershire it was at Loughborough in 1965.
Derbyshire’s highest-ever fourth innings total was made in the defeat at Leicester in 2007 when the visitors totalled 396 in pursuit of 425. Captain, Simon Katich made a valiant 167 in just under five hours for Derbyshire, but a very young Stuart broad proved to be the Leicestershire match-winner, taking 5-67.
Derbyshire players have scored 101 centuries against Leicestershire, with Kim Barnett’s 239 not out at Leicester in 1988 being the highest. Barnett also scored 200 at Derby in 1996, while Les Townsend (233), Bill Storer (216 not out) and Mohammad Azharuddin (212 not out) are the other Derbyshire batsmen to record double hundreds.
Kim Barnett’s seven centuries are the most for the county against Leicestershire, and Wayne Madsen’s four hundreds are the most by any current player.
Four Leicestershire batsmen have made double centuries against Derbyshire with Brad Hodge’s 221 at Oakham School in 2004 being the highest.
Just one player, Ben Slater, has scored two centuries in a match against Leicestershire; he made 104 and 119 at Derby in 2014, a game in which Cheteshwar Pujara scored 100 not out, the only instance of Derbyshire scoring three individual hundreds against Leicestershire in a first-class game.
That match saw Derbyshire record their biggest margin of victory by runs – 408 – in the club’s history.
At Chesterfield, in 1937, both Derbyshire openers scored hundreds in their only innings of the match, Denis Smith making 121 and Albert Alderman 175 in a partnership of 233.
The record partnership for Derbyshire of 316 for the 3rd wicket is between Kim Barnett and Adrian Rollins at Leicester in 1997, while Barnett is the only player to score a century before lunch, making 105 at Leicester in 1997.
Rob Bailey is the only Derbyshire player to score a century on debut against Leicestershire, scoring 118 at Derby in 2000.
Three hundreds have been made by wicketkeepers; two by Bill Storer who scored 142 at Leicester in 1896 and an unbeaten 216 at Chesterfield in 1899, a match in which he also bowled!
The other hundred was scored by Bernie Maher (121 not out) at Derby in 1988.
Two Derbyshire players have scored a century and taken five wickets in matches against Leicestershire; Garnet Lee scored 107 not out and took 5-31 (he also scored 81 and 4-20 in the same game) at Derby in 1928, and David Wainwright scored 109 and took 5-54 at Leicester in 2014.
There have been 28 instances of Derbyshire bowlers taking 10 wickets in a match against Leicestershire – more than against any other opponent – with Bill Bestwick (7) and Tommy Mitchell (5) leading the way. The best match figures were recorded by Les Jackson who took 13-73 at Derby in 1962, and the best at Leicester was recorded by Tommy Mitchell who took 12-103 in 1935.
The best figures in an innings are Tommy Mitchell’s 10-64 at Leicester in 1935 – the 2nd best innings analysis in Derbyshire’s history and only the second instance of a bowler taking ‘all-ten’ for Derbyshire.
In May 1998, at Chesterfield, three different bowlers – Dominic Cork, Kevin Dean and Phillip DeFreitas all took five wickets each in an innings, while in 1895, George Walker took 8-23 v Leicestershire at Leicester – before lunch.
There have been three hat tricks for Derbyshire against Leicestershire; Ole Mortensen at Derby in 1987, Kevin Dean at Leicester at in 2000, and Tony Palladino at Leicester in 2012.
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