Cricket 1907

382 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A ug . 29 , 1907. DERBYSHIRE CRICKET. It was very weloome news to hear that at the meeting of the members of the Derbyshire County C.C. last Friday, it was almost unanimously decided that the county club should not be disbanded, although its liabilities amount to about a thousand pounds. In these twentieth century days, when cricket is more popular than at any previous time, it would have been nothing less than a tragedy to find one of the leading county clubs being dissolved owing to lack of support. Derbyshire, during its 37 years’ existence, has passed through many crises and has probably experienced more difficulty in keeping its head above water than any other county. The side has generally possessed more than one player whom any other county would have been glad to have, but from various causes the club has not flourished as it should have done. Some of its best cricketers, such as Cropper and George Davidson, died in their prime, whilst others, though born in the county, became identified with more flourishing shires. In one year, 1884, they lost the toss 19 times in 22 match* s ! Misfortunes of one kind or another were almost always being ex­ perienced, but perhaps the greatest blow of all was when, almost two decades ago, the club sustained a heavy pecuniary loss ow ing to the “ grots neglect of the most ordinary business principles” on the part o f one of its most trusted officials. At the present moment it is of interest to recall that in 1887 Derbyshire were, as now, a thousand pounds in debt, and that the Hon. W . M . Jervis then under­ took the duties of hon. secretary, and worked with Bucb untiring energy that in twelve months the whole of the liabilities had been discharged. All good cricketers will unite in hoping that the present crisis in the county’s affairs will find a man who can face the situation with as much enthusiasm and success as did Mr. Jervis 20 je ir s ago. Tne death of Mr. Arthur Wilson in November last deprived the club of one whose w oik in the best interests of the county’s cricket it would be difficult to speak too highly. Only those who knew him and his work in­ timately can realise at all adequately how valuable his advice and aid would have been at the present moment. Cricket in Derbyshire dates back to the days of William IV . at least, though, seeing that the game is mentioned in the Derby Mercury of 1745, it is probable that it was played there over 150 years ago. There was certainly a club at Chatsworth in 1832 and at Ilkeston six years later. The game was played at Burton-on-Trent about the same period, Mr. Abram Bass being a great supporter of cricket and no mean exponent. The county being so closely situated to Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire, it would have been strange indeed if the game, p'ayed so largely in those neighbouring shires, had not also taken root in Derbyshire. It was in 1848 that old William Clarke, of the one eye, first visited tbe county at the head of his famous England Eleven, and to him the increase in the popularity of the game there must be largely ascribed. When Clarke’s men played X X , of Derbyshire in 1849 the Eleven were beaten by an innings and 7 runs, b in g dismissed for 104 and 74, although their side contained such cricketing giants as Alfred Mynu, Clarke, Parr, Pilcb, Box, Felix, Guy, Martingell, and Hillyer. The result was largely due to the fast round-armed bow ling of John Paxton, a lace-maker of Ilkeston, which accounted for eleven wickets for 47 runs. Tom Hunt, of Chesterfield, one of the finest fingle- wicket players of his day, played a fine innings of 61 and made three catches. Hunt appeared at Lord’s for the Players in 1850, and so highly was his batting thought of that he was sent in with Wisden to open the innings : he is, how­ ever, best remembered on account of his 102 for North v. South, at Manchester in 1856, against the bowling of Caffyn, Martingell, Dean, and Wisden. Con­ temporary with Hunt were the brothers Thomas and William Attenborough, also of IlkestoD, both lefthanded bowlers of more than ordinary ability. In 1865 Dr. W. G. Curgenven, a Devonshire man by birth, became identi­ fied with Derbyshire, much to the advantage, as future events proved, of that county’s cricket. Shortly after his arrival the formation of a Derbyshire County Cricket Club began to be mooted by Mr. Walter Boden, Mr. E. M. Wass, Mr. John Cartwright, and others, for, although at various times matches had been played at Lord Stamford’s seat and elsewhere in the name of Derbyshire, there had never been any properly con­ stituted County Club. In 1870 Derby­ shire cricketers had a successful season, their greatest triumph being to defeat the M .C.C. and Ground at Lord’s by four wickets, although Hickton had left them and j oined the Lancashire team, and the great Alfred Shaw bowled for the home side. A t Tonbridge, too, the Gentlemen of Derbyshire defeated the Gentlemen of Kent by an innings in the only match ever played between the two sides, so it is evident that at that period there was much good cricket in the County. It was, no doubt, o w iD g largely to these successes that on November 4th of thesame year a meeting was held in the Guild Hall, Derby, “ to consider the best mode of establishing a Cricket Club for the Shire that should represent the cricket­ in g strength of the whole County.” The meeting had been convened by Mr. Walter Boden, who moved—“ That a Cricket Club be farmed representing the whole strength o f the County, to be called the Derby­ shire County Club.” The resolution was passed, Mr. Boden appointed Hon. Secre­ tary, Mr. G. H . Strut, of Belper, vice- President, and the Earl of Chesterfield (who died shortly afterwards) President. The tii st match was played iu May, 1871, at Manchester against Lancashire, who were dismissed b y Hickton and Dove Gregory for 25 in their first venture and beaten by an innings and 11 runs. For three years Lancashire were the only county with whom Derbyshire could arrange matches, but in 1873 X IV . of Derbyshire played X I. of Nottinghamshire at Wirksworth, and created a sensation by disposing of their strong opponents for 14 and 92 and beating them by an innings and 8 runs. Flint took six wickets for 7 runs in the first innings, and W . M ycroft four for 6. The last-named is, beyond all doubt, by far the finest bowler the County has yet produced: in all matches in which he appeared for Derby­ shire he took over five hundred wickets at a cost of eleven runs each, whilst he played for the M.C.C. and Ground when considerably over fifty years of age. He was a fast left round-armed bowler, and iu the match with Hampshire, at South­ ampton in 1876, took seventeen wickets for 103 runs. In the m id-’seventies the bowling was certainly strong with such men as Mycroft, Platts, Tye, and Hay available, and it was to their attack that their successes were primarily due. In 1874 they played four inter-County matches, beating Lancashire at Man­ chester and Kent at both Wirksworth and Tunbridge Wells, and drawing with Lancashire in the return at Chester­ field. That year they were an unbeaten side and—the Champion County ! This was the first and, so far, the only occasion upon which they have gained the honours of the Championship Competition, but many followers of the game even outside the County would be glad if similar success attended them in the not far- distant future. During the ’eighties Derbyshire had more than their fair share of trouble. Many of the players who had borne the brunt of the work hitherto were getting on in years, and the supply of young cricketers to follow in their footsteps did not prove so large or of such good material as could be wished. Three very useful men in Mr. L . C. Docker, Frank Sugg, and Shacklock left the county and played for Warwickshire, Lancashire, and Nottinghamshire respectively, the un­ fortunate financial trouble previously alluded to was experienced, and William Cropper, when giving every promise of developing into a very fine cricketer, met his death at football. The fortunes of Derbyshire as a first-class side were at their lowest ebb in 1884, when ten inter­ county matches were played and all lost. In 1887 another disastrous season was experienced, the whole of the six matches played resulting in defeat, and it was not until eight years later that the side again participated in the County Championship Competition. During the past ten or twelve years Derbyshire have had some excellent cricketers in the eleven, but fortune seems never to have favoured the side to any extent. Their defeat has generally been taken as a matter of course; their success too often as due to the “ glorious uncertainty ” of the game. Y et with such players as Mr. Wright, Storer, Geo. Davidson, Chatterton, Mr. Evershed, Bagshaw, Hulme, Dr. Ashcroft, Mr. Lawton, Humphries, Mr. Ollivierre, Warren, Cadman, Morton, and others, the side ought to have done well. Ia Mr. Barclay Delacombe they have had a