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Search forA tour round county's former grounds is well worthwhile
Wednesday, June 18, 2008, 08:00
With more than 4,000 spectators around the boundaries of the beautiful parks pitch, it was a view reminiscent of pictures from the great days of cricket at Chesterfield, when the north Derbyshire mining communities would turn out in force to cheer on the county.
Though Derbyshire lost the match this time, the decision to take a Twenty20 Cup match away from Derby for the first time was unquestionably a success.
Playing matches away from county headquarters is a rarity these days, not only for Derbyshire.
With concerns more heightened now than in the past over the standard of wickets first-class cricketers are expected to play on, it is a reality of the modern game but sad, all the same.
However, the memory of the many grounds Derbyshire have played on through its history is kept alive in John Shawcroft's excellent book, 'Cricket Grounds of Derbyshire.'
Shawcroft, a journalist from Ripley, has written five previous books on Derbyshire cricket and the thoroughness of his research can never be doubted.
But he can also be relied upon to entertain the reader and the rich depth of the stories in this book do more than preserve a slice of cricket history – they revive it.
Some of the tales are familiar – none more so than the infamous June snow at Buxton in 1975 – but all are worth revisiting.
I particularly enjoyed the telling of John Chapman and Arnold Warren's ninth-wicket stand of 238 at the Blackwell MW ground in 1910, which is still a world record.
Some grounds were used only once –Wirksworth and Long Eaton in the county club's infancy and outside the county boundaries at Cheadle and Checkley in more recent times.
But all have become part of the Derbyshire cricket story and all are chronicled here, with full statistical support provided by David Baggett.
Copies of the book, priced £8, are available from the Derbyshire club shop or from the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians by e-mailing sales@acscricket.com.
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