CRICKET LOVELY CRICKET

As Derbyshire County Cricket Club celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2020, Nigel Powlson looks back at a long history of being the underdog and having to battle against the odds to bring success back home

All those Derbyshire cricket fans who enjoyed the county’s first ever-appearance at T20 finals day last summer owe a debt of gratitude for their big day out at Edgbaston to a group of men who had the foresight to form the club at a meeting at Derby’s Guildhall on 4th November 1870.

If that historic decision had not been taken 150 years ago, then we wouldn’t have had the chance to enjoy watching the likes of Wayne Madsen and Luis Reece smashing sixes over the boundary at the County Ground in last year’s T20 blast competition.

That’s why Derbyshire will be making the most of this special anniversary by savouring the great moments throughout the club’s history – such as the County Championship success in 1936, three one-day trophy triumphs in the modern era and a Division Two title in 2012.

David Griffin is the club’s Heritage Officer and statistician – and a Vice President and club photographer as well for good measure.

He has relished those historic moments because the club has always been one of the poor relations in the county game, often strapped for cash and forced to punch above its weight. He has seen some great players, outstanding cricket and famous victories and has savoured them all.

He said: ‘Derbyshire has always struggled from the early days. In the Victorian era, very early on in the history of county cricket, there was a period when the county was relegated from first class cricket, such was the lack of quality. They couldn’t win, they struggled to retain players and had no money and so it was always a fight against the odds from the start and that has never changed.