Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1919
Introduction '''Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1919''' was the first cricket season after a four-year break from first class cricket during World War I. The English club  Derbyshire had been playing for forty-eight years with their twenty first season in the County Championship being notable that they won three matches in the County Championship to come ninth.
1919 season  After the First World War, 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. 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 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 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=== List of  matchesNo.DateVResult MarginNotes119 May 1919  Lancashire   Old Trafford, Manchester Lost10 wickets W Bestwick 5-89 230 May 1919  Leicestershire  Aylestone Road, Leicester Won9 wickets W Bestwick 5-44 and 7-109; Benskin 8-86  304 Jun 1919  Nottinghamshire   County Ground, Derby Lost Innings and 49 runs WA Flint 6-23 409 Jun 1919  Warwickshire Edgbaston, Birmingham Won7 wickets Oliver 99; W Bestwick 5-103 and 7-50; Howell 7-81 513 Jun 1919  Northamptonshire   County Ground, Derby Won 9 wickets W Bestwick 6-40 and 5-69 618 Jun 1919  Lancashire  Queen's Park, Chesterfield Lost Innings and 24 runs JT Tyldesley 272; W Bestwick 6-153; RK Tyldesley 5-41 720 Jun 1919  YorkshirePark Avenue Cricket Ground, Bradford Lost 10 wickets Blackburn 5-17; J Horsley 6-78 802 Jul 1919  Yorkshire  Queen's Park, Chesterfield  Drawn  909 Jul 1919  SomersetCounty Ground, Derby Lost 10 wickets White 6-56 and 5-58; W Bestwick 5-77; Robson 5-49 1014 Jul 1919 Australian Imperial Forces  County Ground, Derby Won 36 runs J Horsley 6-55 and 6-62; Gregory 6-65 1123 Jul 1919  Somerset Recreation Ground, Bath Lost 3 wickets White 7-64; Robson 7-19 1204 Aug 1919  Warwickshire  County Ground, Derby Lost 10 wickets Bates 119; W Bestwick 8-178; Howell 5-65 1308 Aug 1919  Northamptonshire   County Ground, Northampton Lost 3 wickets W Bestwick 5-105 1413 Aug 1919  Leicestershire  Queen's Park, Chesterfield Lost 4 wickets Benskin 7-68 and 6-56; W Bestwick 6-75 1525 Aug 1919  Nottinghamshire    Trent Bridge, Nottingham  Drawn
Statistics ===County Championship batting averages=== Name  Matches  Inns  Runs  High score  Average 100s BSH Hill-Wood   3 3  52 24  26.00  0    SWA Cadman 10 18  428 78* 25.17  0  G Beet  14 24  492 92* 24.60  0 L Oliver  14 26  625 99   24.03  0    J Chapman  13 24  521 80   22.65  0    WWH Hill-Wood 3 5  102 32  20.40  0  GR Jackson 5 9  183 50  20.33  0 TF Revill 7 12  175 65* 19.44  0    A Severn  9 16  263 73  17.53  0   H Wild  13 22  326 68   17.15  0     CJ Corbett  2 4  51 23  17.00  0    A Morton 14 24  272 46* 12.95  0  J Horsley  11 16  138 19  12.54  0  HF Purdy  2 3  23 13  11.50  0     LE Flint 6 9  88 35  9.77  0  GF Bell 1 2  19 18  9.50  0    RRC Baggallay 3 5  32 16  6.40  0     T Forrester  4 5  23 14 4.60  0     AG Slater  2 4  17 7 4.25  0  W Bestwick 14 21 43 13* 3.07  0     WN Malthouse 2 3  9 5  3.00  0     J Gladwin 1 1  0 0  0.00  0  FA Newton  1 2  0 0  0.00  0    ===County Championship bowling averages=== Name  Balls  Runs  Wickets  BB  Average W Bestwick  3289  1614 89 8-178 18.13   A Morton 1861  914 31 4-53 29.48    J Horsley  993  552 24 6-78 23.00   T Forrester   654 305 11 4-45 27.72   SWA Cadman  518  268 7 4-49 38.28   LE Flint  371  217 7 3-30 31.00   BSH Hill-Wood  174  149 4 2-42 37.25    WWH Hill-Wood 132  89 2 1-11 44.50   AG Slater  175  95 2 2-34 47.50   L Oliver 13 14 0          HF Purdy  36  26 0          H Wild  36  25 0   ===Wicket Keeper===G Beet Catches 25,  Stumping 7
Derbyshire County Cricketers  in the Great War ===Casualties===*Frank Bingham played one match for Derbyshire 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 company. 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 Derbyshire from 1912 to 1914, and for Oxford University 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 of the 1st Battalion, in December, 1915, and was Mentioned in Despatches 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 Derbyshire in 1910, and also played league football for Chesterfield F. C. and Rotherham Town. He served in the First World War in the 7th Bn King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry 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 Derbyshire 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 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. 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 Bulgarian 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. *GF Bell  won the Military Cross.
See also *Derbyshire County Cricket Club seasons*1919 English cricket season*Cricket in the Great War
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