History

A brief history of Derbyshire

Duncan Miller

Formed 1870
First-class debut 1871
Admitted to Championship1895
County Championship 1936
Gillette/NatWest/C&G 1981
Benson & Hedges 1993
Sunday League 1990
Twenty20 Best - Quarter-finals 2005

Derbyshire were formed on November 4 1870, and they played their initial first-class match against Lancashire CCC at Old Trafford in May 1871. However, they lost their first-class status between 1888 and 1894 as a result of some disastrous performances, but managed to regain admission to the Championship in 1895.

They continued to struggle and in 1897 they failed to register a single victory, despite being able to boast the likes of George Davidson, Joseph Hulme and George Porter and the batting of William Storer, William Chatterton and Bagshaw.

They remained amongst the weakest teams in the Championship until 1926, when the nucleus of a good side emerged built on the batting of Stan Worthington, Denis Smith and George Pope, and the bowling of Alf Pope, Tom Mitchell and Bill Copson. These players led the team to their first - and, to date, only -Championship victory in 1936.

Since the Second World War Derbyshire have continued to disappoint, with sporadic one-day success the limit of their achievements. They have produced talented players - the likes of Mike Hendrick and Dominic Cork amongst them - but failed to turn in consistent results. It is the sign of a struggling club that two of their better players in recent years in Cork and Chris Adams have both left the county in search of success elsewhere.

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