Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1898
Introduction '''Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1898''' was the cricket season when the English club  Derbyshire had been playing for twenty-seven years. It was their fourth season in the County Championship and  they won three matches to finish ninth in the Championship table.
1898 season Derbyshire  played sixteen games in the County Championship in 1898 and one match against MCC. The captain for the year was Sydney Evershed in his eighth season as captain. William Storer was top scorer with three centuries which he achieved while also bowling to take 28 wickets and being a useful wicket-keeper. George Davidson took most wickets at 65 as well as scoring a century. The season saw many high scores, and against Hampshire in August, four Derbyshire players Levi Wright, William Storer, William Chatterton and George Davidson scored centuries followed by two more from the Hampshire players in the same match. The Derbyshire total of 645 runs was to remain their highest match score until it was surpassed in the 2007 season. Two matches later,  Yorkshire set a record score against Derbyshire of 662 runs when Jack Brown scored 300 and John Tunnicliffe 243 in Walter Sugg's benefit match before Brown deliberately knocked down his wicket. It remained a national partnership record until two more Yorkshiremen, Percy Holmes and Herbert Sutcliffe, made 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton in 1932.Queen's Park, Chesterfield, first used in 1898The Yorkshire match was Derbyshire's second match at Queen's Park, Chesterfield, the first being earlier in the season against Surrey. The size of the crowd at that game made the experiment well worth while and the ground, described as mre pleasing to the eye than the County Ground, became a regular venue for several matches a season. The game against Surrey was not without incident as superb lob bowling by D. L. A. Jephson, gave him nine Derbyshire wickets for 55 runs in the two innings,  Derbyshire supporters were upset by Jephson's lobs, and protested vigorously against them, saying that this was unfair bowling.The most significant addition to the Derbyshire squad in the season was Billy Bestwick  as well known for his antics off the pitch as his demon bowling. William Ellis played the first of several seasons at the club when he played occasional games. Alfred Charlesworth and James Wright also made their debuts and played several matches in the season, although only Wright played in a subsequent season. William Prince, John Bourne and  Solomon Hardy each played just one career match for Derbyshire in the season===Matches=== List of  matchesNo.DateVResult MarginNotes1 16 May 1898  Nottinghamshire    Trent Bridge, Nottingham    Drawn W Storer 109 219 May 1898   Surrey Kennington Oval Abandoned  323 May 1898  Lancashire   County Ground, Derby Lost 65 runs JJ Hulme 6-65; Cuttell 5-30; Briggs 5-34; Mold 5-27 430 May 1898  Hampshire  County Ground, Southampton Won 10 wickets W Storer 104 509 Jun 1898   MCC     Lord's Cricket Ground, St John's Wood Won Innings and 1 run G Davidson 6-30 and 6-53; J Hearne 6-66 616 Jun 1898  Warwickshire  Edgbaston, Birmingham    Drawn Quaife 109; Lilley 112 720 Jun 1898  Essex   County Ground, Leyton Lost 129 runs G Davidson 7-42 and 8-74 827 Jun 1898  Leicestershire  County Ground, Derby Won Innings and 31 runs Pougher 5-53; F Davidson 6-36; G Davidson 5-31 930 Jun 1898   Surrey  Queen's Park, Chesterfield Lost Innings and 43 runs Jephson 6-38 1004 Jul 1898  Essex   County Ground, Derby Lost Innings and 172 runs Perrin 104 ; McGahey 115; Kortright 5-44; Bull 6-751111 Jul 1898  Nottinghamshire   County Ground, Derby     Drawn F Davidson 6-49  1225 Jul 1898  Warwickshire   County Ground, Derby    Drawn SH Evershed  153; Field 5-107 1328 Jul 1898  Yorkshire   St George's Road, Harrogate    Drawn H Bagshaw 100; JW Hancock 5-61 1401 Aug 1898  Hampshire   County Ground, Derby    Drawn LG Wright 134; W Storer 100; W Chatterton 142; G Davidson 108 and 6-42; Poore 121; Quinton 101 and 5-931515 Aug 1898  Leicestershire  Grace Road, Leicester Lost Innings and 103 runs Geeson 6-64 and 7-38 1618 Aug 1898  Yorkshire  Queen's Park, Chesterfield Lost Innings and 387 runs J Brown 300; J Tunnicliffe 243 1725 Aug 1898  Lancashire   Old Trafford, Manchester  Drawn J Tyldesley 200; Cuttell 5-48
Statistics ===County Championship batting averages=== Name  Matches  Inns  Runs  High score  Average 100s  W Storer  15 25  1113 109  50.59  3 SH Evershed   13 23  729 153 33.13  1  W Chatterton 14 23  648 142 30.85  1  H Bagshaw 13 21  481 100* 24.05  1  G Davidson  14 21  457 108  21.76  1  LG Wright 15 26  541 134   21.64  1  EM Ashcroft 4 6  95 60  19.00  0  H Blackwell 3 4  38 15 19.00  0  W Sugg  15 23  323 50 14.68  0  J Wright 5 8  87 53* 12.42  0  A Charlesworth 7 10  92 23 10.22  0  GG Walker  6 9  62 25  7.75  0  W Ellis  3 5  28 16* 7.00  0  F Davidson 8 14  67 19  6.70  0  JJ Hulme  2 3  13 9* 6.50  0  JJ Bourne 1 1  6 6  6.00  0  JW Hancock 11 14  50 19 5.55  0 S Hardy 1 2  10 9  5.00  0  D Bottom  1 2  8 7 4.00  0  GA Marsden 3 5  14 5  2.80  0  W Bestwick  8 11  22 5* 2.75 0  E Evershed 1 1  1 1 1.00  0  SH Wood 1 1  4 4*  0 W Prince 1 1  2 2*  0 ===County Championship bowling averages=== Name  Balls  Runs  Wickets  BB  Average G Davidson 3682  1020 65 8-74 15.69 F Davidson  2054  844 32 6-36 26.37 W Storer 1470  995 28 4-121 35.53  JW Hancock  1511  720 23 5-61 31.30 JJ Hulme   500 152 12 6-65 12.66  GG Walker  965 630 9 4-199 70.00  W Bestwick   765 430 8 4-163 53.75 H Bagshaw 430 241 7 2-5 34.42 W Chatterton  650 255 6 4-32 42.50  W Sugg  345 197 5 3-25 39.40 H Blackwell 175  105 4 2-23 26.25 JJ Bourne  265 103 3 2-63 34.33 D Bottom  123  50 1 1-50 50.00  W Prince  125  38 0          A Charlesworth  60  47 0          EM Ashcroft 50 31 0          J Wright  50  16 0          LG Wright  50 36 0          W Ellis  30 12 0          SH Evershed  30 28 0
Wicket Keeper * W Storer Catches 24,  Stumping  1 * W Chatterton  Catches 13,  Stumping  1 * LG Wright Catches 10,  Stumping  2
See also *Derbyshire County Cricket Club seasons*1898 English cricket season
References