Statistical Preview: Surrey

The group stage of the Royal London Cup concludes with a home game against Surrey who visit the Incora County Ground, Derby for the first time since 2013. Heritage Officer David Griffin previews the match and looks at the statistical highlights of the past.

There have been 51 scheduled List A matches between these two counties with Derbyshire winning 17 of them, Surrey 26, and one tie. A further four matches were abandoned and three No Results.

Derbyshire’s highest innings total is 294-9 at The Oval in 2013 while their opponents registered their highest score of 326-6 at Guildford in 2015.

Derbyshire’s lowest score in a full-length game is 79 all out in a Gillette Cup match at The Oval in 1967 when Geoff Arnold took 5-9 off 9 overs for the home side.

Surrey’s lowest is 118 all out in a John Player League match at Derby in 1973 when Srinivas Venkatraghavan took three wickets, with two apiece for Mike Hendrick and Fred Rumsey.

Derbyshire’s largest margin of victory by runs came in the quarter final of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy at Derby in 2003 when they won by 137 runs.

In front of a large midweek crowd, Surrey invited Derbyshire to bat first, and the hosts responded with 271 all out as Mohammad Kaif (81), playing his finest innings for Derbyshire, and Michael Di Venuto (51) dominated proceedings.

At 26-4 Surrey’s much-vaunted top order was in disarray as Ward, Brown, Ramprakash and Clarke made a combined total of 13 runs between them. Dominic Cork and Kevin Dean did the early damage, taking two wickets apiece before Graeme Welch with 4-26 did the rest.

Ten of Surrey’s players were internationals – Derbyshire had a mere three – but the visitors were roundly beaten, and Derbyshire looked forward to a semi-final for the first time in five years.

The boot was on the other foot 24 years earlier when Derbyshire were bidding to reach their second consecutive Benson and Hedges Cup Final.

On a very hot day at Derby, the semi-final was a close affair with Surrey making 166-8 off 55 overs, Geoff Miller, Mike Hendrick and John Walters sharing the wickets.

Derbyshire lost two early wickets but Peter Kirsten and David Steele, coming together at 38-2 took the score to 114 needing a further 53 runs with eight wickets in hand.

However, despite Kirsten’s dazzling 70, the Surrey pace attack of Sylvester Clarke, Robin Jackman and the young, but quick, Hugh Wilson ripped out the middle order with three wickets falling for two runs, and the tail simply couldn’t make up the deficit, as Derbyshire lost by six runs.

For those of us who had taken the tear-off slip out of our membership booklets and submitted a request for a ticket for the final during the tea interval, this was, from a cricketing perspective, a disastrous end to the game.

The tied game took place at The Oval in 1988 when Surrey batted first in a Refuge Assurance League game, scoring 225 for four off 40 overs with 70 coming from the last seven. In reply, Kim Barnett top-scored with 72 and Michael Holding made 40 but there were still ten runs needed from the last over and the tie was secured with a bye off the last ball.

Derbyshire’s batsmen have made just three List A hundreds against Surrey, with the highest being Wes Durston’s quite brilliant 129 at Guildford in 2015 when he reached his hundred in only 74 balls.

In the same game, Steve Davies and Kumar Sangakkara also scored hundreds, but Durston reached three figures faster than that pair, and to this writer at least, Durston’s was the best knock of the three.

Adrian Rollins (126*) at Derby in 1995 and Chris Adams (119*) at The Oval in 1994 are the other two centurions.

Peter Bowler became only the third Derbyshire batsman to carry his bat through a completed one-day innings, against Surrey at Ilkeston in 1993, scoring 76 not out; the last 8 Derbyshire batsmen made single figure scores as Bowler held out at the other end.

No Derbyshire bowler has taken five wickets in an innings against Surrey in one-day cricket.

Watch Derbyshire in the Royal London Cup!

50-over cricket returns to Derbyshire this month, with tickets on sale now for all home games, including the local derby against Nottinghamshire at The Incora County Ground and the fixture against Yorkshire Vikings at Queen’s Park, Chesterfield.