Statistical Preview: Kent

Derbyshire entertain Kent for the first time since 2012 in their sixth Royal London One Day Cup match and final group game at Derby.

Heritage Officer David Griffin previews the match and looks at the statistical highlights of the past.

These sides first met in the inaugural season of the Players County League in 1969, when Kent won a one-sided match by eight wickets at Chesterfield.

There have been 47 scheduled one day games the counties, Derbyshire having won 16, Kent 28, with two games ending as ‘no result’ and one tie, at Derby in 1996.

That tied match was reduced to 25 overs per side and featured a magnificent 72 not out off 37 balls from Philip DeFreitas, and despite three stumpings by Karl Krikken – a Derbyshire record – Kent managed to secure parity off the final ball of the match.

Derbyshire’s highest innings total of 304 for three was at Maidstone in 2005 and featured one of the great one day hundreds from Michael Di Venuto and helped give Derbyshire a 90-run victory.

Kent’s highest total of 295 for four came at Derby in 1994, ensuring a 76-run win for the visitors.

Derbyshire’s lowest all-out total – in all one day cricket – of just 60, came at Canterbury in 2008, while Kent’s lowest of 139 was made on the same ground in 1989 when Michael Holding took four for 18 in a fine display of controlled fast bowling.

Apart from the aforementioned Di Venuto hundreds, there have been three further centuries against Kent; Martin Guptill made a fine 102 on his one day debut for the county at Derby in 2011, Chris Adams scored an unbeaten 141 at Chesterfield in 1992, an innings of imperious power which included a county record 10 sixes, and Kim Barnett produced arguably the greatest of all Derbyshire’s limited overs hundreds in scoring 127 at Chesterfield in 1990 in a crucial Sunday League game.

David Smith is the only Derbyshire player to carry his bat through a completed one day innings against Kent, scoring 36 out of 109 at Chesterfield in that first game back in 1969, while Holding’s four for 18 are the best bowling figures recorded by a Derbyshire bowler.

The sides have met three times at the quarter final stages of one day cricket, and in 1978, in the Benson and Hedges Cup final at Lord’s.

One-day cricket is back in the height of summer!

Derbyshire compete in enthralling 50-over cricket this August, including the visit of Yorkshire to Queen’s Park. Find out more and book tickets for all home matches now.