Statistical Preview: Durham

Derbyshire’s penultimate group game in the Bob Willis Trophy will see them travel up to Emirates Riverside to face Durham. Heritage Officer, David Griffin, looks at the statistical background to the game.

Derbyshire defeated Durham in the opening game of the 2019 championship season at Derby – their first win over Durham since the 165-run victory at Emirates Riverside in 2004 when Jon Moss’ unbeaten 147 led the way, backed up by Mo Sheikh’s six wickets in the match.

In that match at Derby in April 2019, Harvey Hosein scored 78 and 62, while Luis Reece took 5-47 in Durham’s first innings as the home side prevailed by 125 runs.

Durham however, exacted some revenge when they won the reverse fixture at Chester-le-Street despite battling half centuries in each innings from Matt Critchley,

Overall, the two sides have met on 28 occasions, with Derbyshire winning six matches, Durham 13 matches, with nine drawn games.

Derbyshire’s highest score in matches between the two counties is 539-7 in the second innings of the game in 2005 – the second highest score ever made by Derbyshire in the second innings of a game. That total included 203 by Michael Di Venuto and 106 by Hasan Adnan.

Their highest score in the first innings was made at Derby in 2018, when six players scored between 45 and 85 runs, although nobody made a century in the all-out total of 427.

Durham’s highest total against Derbyshire is 625-6d at Chesterfield in 1994, a game which the visitors won, and in which Mohammad Azharrudin made a spectacular 205 for Derbyshire – the highest individual score by a Derbyshire player against Durham.

Durham’s highest second innings score in games between the two sides is 376 in the topsy-turvy encounter at Chester-le-Street in 2018, when Durham won by 95 runs having been bowled out for 96 in their first innings.

Dominic Cork made the highest-ever score by a batsmen batting at number eight for Derbyshire, when he scored 200 not out against Durham in the win at Derby in 2000.

Kim Barnett scored a record 53 first-class hundreds for Derbyshire and scored at least one against all the other first-class counties with the exception of Durham, against whom his highest score was 98 at Derby in 1998 in his final season with the county.

Derbyshire batsmen have recorded a total of 15 first-class hundreds against Durham, as follows;

Graeme Welch’s 6-30 at Emirates Riverside in 2001 is still the best bowling analysis in an innings for Derbyshire, while Kevin Dean grabbed 6 wickets in the second innings of that game and ended the match with 10-105, the best match analysis for Derbyshire against Durham.

Duanne Olivier also took ten in the match – for 125 runs – in the game at Emirates Riverside in 2018, and Dominic Cork took 10-126 at Derby in 2002.

Imran Tahir is the sole Derbyshire bowler to take five wickets on his debut against Durham, recording figures of 5-110 at Chesterfield in 2017.

Together, We Are All Derbyshire. Four-day cricket has returned you can follow all five of Derbyshire’s Bob Willis Trophy matches live on our match centre at derbyshireccc.com.