Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1919 was the first

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

season after a four-year break from first class cricket during World War I. The English club

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

had been playing for forty-eight years with their twenty first season in the

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

being notable that they won three matches in the County Championship to come ninth.

1919 season

After the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, county cricket resumed in 1919 but everyone connected with the game had to put in much effort to create a very basic competition. Matches were restricted to two days to begin with, but the experiment was not repeated.W.T. Taylor ''History of Derbyshire cricket Wisden'' 1953
/ref> Derbyshire played 14 matches in the County Championship and one against the Australian Imperial Forces. Derbyshire struggled to create a team, drawing in several youngsters, and also calling upon players who had last represented the club years previously. As a result, they managed three wins in the County Championship and four matches altogether - their particular accomplishment was to defeat the Australian Imperial Forces XI, Derbyshire being the only county side to do so. Richard Baggallay had been the last captain before the war and he led the team in the resumption of the game although he only played in three matches. John Chapman was the most frequent substitute. Leonard Oliver was top scorer and

Billy Bestwick William Bestwick (24 February 1875 – 2 May 1938) was an English cricketer who played for Derbyshire County Cricket Club, Derbyshire between 1898 and 1926. He was a medium-fast bowler who took over 1,400 wickets in his career, including 10 in ...

took most wickets with 89. Bestwick had made his debut for Derbyshire in 1898; he had not played for them since 1909 and had a reputation for unreliability on account of taste for beer. He was brought back into the team in 1919 at the age of 43, with Arthur Morton as his minder. Although it was thought he would be past first-class cricket his capability surprised everybody. The 36 runs victory over the Australians was achieved without Bestwick, who, was making his first appearance for the Players against the Gentlemen at Lord's. James Horsley managed a hat-trick, and with Arthur Morton shared nineteen wickets in the two Australian innings. George Beet stepped in behind the stumps, bridging the gap between the stalwarts

Joe Humphries Joseph Humphries (19 May 1876 – 7 May 1946) was an English cricketer who played three Test cricket, Test matches for England cricket team, England in English cricket team in Australia in 1907-08, Australia in 1907–08 and played first-class c ...

and Harry Elliott. The season marked the beginning of Guy Jackson's long association with the club. Other new players included the Hill-Woods - Basil and Wilfred, Arthur Severn, Louis Flint, Geoffrey Bell and William Malthouse. In addition George Ratcliffe made his single appearance for Derbyshire against the Australians, and John Dunlop Southern made the first of his occasional appearances, also against the Australians.

Matches

Statistics

County Championship batting averages

County Championship bowling averages

Wicket Keeper

G Beet Catches 25, Stumping 7

Derbyshire County Cricketers in the Great War

Casualties

* Frank Bingham played one match for

in the 1896 season He was a doctor and an enthusiastic Territorial Army officer, and in the First World War served as a combatant rather than as a military doctor. He was a lieutenant in the 5th Battalion, King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) and became a captain in 1914 and commanded a

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. He took part in the Second Battle of Ypres and was killed on 22 May 1915 on a reconnaissance mission after stopping to dig a man out of a collapsed trench. He is commemorated on the Menin Gate. * Geoffrey Jackson played for

from 1912 to 1914, and for

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

in 1914. He was given a commission in the Rifle Brigade on the outbreak of World War I and went to France in October, 1914. He was invalided home, after the Second Battle of Ypres, suffering from gas poisoning and spent some months in England serving his Reserve Battalion. He returned to France, as

Adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an Officer (armed forces), officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of “human resources” in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed ...

of the 1st Battalion, in December, 1915, and was

Mentioned in Despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

on 1 January 1916. He served continuously until his death on 9 April 1917 at the Battle of Arras. He was mortally wounded by a piece of shell after advancing about 6000 yards, and died at Faimpoux, Arras, Belgium before reaching the dressing station. * Charles Newcombe played one first-class cricket match for

in 1910, and also played league football for Chesterfield F. C. and Rotherham Town. He served in the

in the 7th Bn

King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI) was a Light infantry, light infantry regiment of the British Army. It officially existed from 1881 to 1968, but its predecessors go back to 1755. In 1968, the regiment was amalgamated with the Somers ...

as a lieutenant and was killed in action at Fleuraix in France on 27 December 1915. He was buried at Y Farm Military Cemetery, Bois-Grenier * Guy Wilson played one first class match for

in 1902 and one in 1905. He was killed in action during the Battle of Cambrai on 30 November 1917.

Awards

* RRC Baggallay served in the

Irish Guards The Irish Guards (IG) is one of the Foot guards#United Kingdom, Foot Guards regiments of the British Army and is part of the Guards Division. Together with the Royal Irish Regiment (1992), Royal Irish Regiment, it is one of the two Irish infant ...

and was successively captain and major, seeing service at the Somme and Ypres. He was mentioned in despatches and awarded D.S.O. and M.C. in 1919. * GR Jackson served as a captain at Salonica in January 1918,and was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

. He was also mentioned in despatches twice and also won the French Legion d’Honneur and the Greek Military Cross. Jackson was leading his troops on patrol when some

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

n soldiers approached, carrying a flag of truce. They were asking for the armistice which was to end Bulgaria’s part in the First World War.Bygone Derbyshire ''Derbyshire County Cricket Club's new dawn''
/ref> * GF Bell won the

References

{{Derbyshire County Cricket Club 1919 in English cricket Derbyshire County Cricket Club seasons English cricket seasons in the 20th century