Background
Nottinghamshire head for their first away championship match of the season on the back of a loss to Middlesex in their opening fixture.
The side bounced back with an emphatic record-breaking win over Durham MCCU in last week’s first class friendly, with a number of players catching the eye with impressive performances.
Derbyshire won the LV=CC Division Two title last year and return to the top flight for the first time since 2000.
This fixture will be their first on home soil having already earned a draw at Edgbaston before a heavy loss at Lord’s against early pace-setters Middlesex last week.
Head to Head
This week’s match will be the 100th occasion that Derbyshire have hosted Nottinghamshire in a first class fixture, with the first meeting in 1875 going the way of the visitors.
The previous matches have been played at four different locations, Derby, Chesterfield, Ilkeston and Blackwell.
Notts have been victorious on 25 of those occasions but have lost 29 of the remaining fixtures, with 41 draws and four matches having been abandoned without a ball being bowled.
At the County Ground, Derby – venue of the forthcoming match – Notts lead the head-to-head stats by 11 wins to 7, with 15 draws and 3 wash-outs.
Notts have won each of their last two championship visits to their neighbouring county, at Derby in 2004 and at Queens Park, Chesterfield three years later.
Overall, home and away, the record is: Played 186, Notts Wins 64, Losses 44, Draws 88, Abandoned 4.
Last Meeting
The last time the two counties met in the county championship was at Chesterfield in September 2007.
Notts won by an innings and 6 runs, inside three days, after racking up 548-9 declared, with Stephen Fleming scoring 243 and Chris Read 90. Derbyshire were dismissed for 205 and 337.
Notts: Jefferson, Gallian, Wagh, Fleming, Patel, Shafayat, Read, Swann, Adams, Franks, Shreck.
Derbys: Stubbings, Weston, Dighton, Birt, Smith, Hasan Adnan, Pipe, Clare, Needham, White, Lungley
This recent pre-season has seen the sides face each on three occasions. In the first of two meetings in Barbados, Notts triumphed at the Kensington Oval in the final of the Barbados T20 Cup.
A 2-day friendly in the Caribbean then followed, during which Derbyshire’s Wes Durston and Nottinghamshire’s Steven Mullaney each scored centuries as the sides took turns in spending one whole day at the crease each.
Another 2-day friendly was played at the County Ground three weeks ago with Ed Cowan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul each turning out for the first time for their new counties.
Stats
The sixth-highest individual score by a Nottinghamshire batsman came at the County Ground, Derby in 1901, when William Gunn scored 273, an innings that surpassed his earlier effort of 207 not out at the same venue in 1896.
Only two other Notts batsmen have registered double centuries on the ground. Mick Newell, current Trent Bridge director of cricket, scored an undefeated 203 in 1987 whilst Kevin Pietersen compiled an innings of 218 not out in 2001.
In that same 2001 match John Morris scored a hundred in each innings for Notts, 170 and 136 not out, against one of his former counties. His total of 306 is the fourth highest match aggregate by a Notts batsman anywhere.
The stand between Morris and Pietersen reached 372, a Notts record for the sixth wicket.
Notts highest team score at Derby is 661 and their lowest is just 53.
In 1885 the visitors won by a margin of an innings and 250 runs, their largest success at Derbyshire’s headquarters.
Alf Shaw’s 8-25 for Notts in 1875 is the best bowling performance by a Nottinghamshire player at Derby. It included the first-ever hat-trick taken by one of the county’s bowlers.
Played for both sides
Given the close proximity of the two grounds it’s not really surprising that a number of players have appeared for both counties.
Each county currently has someone on their coaching staff who has represented both Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. Mike Hendrick, fast bowling coach under Mick Newell at Trent Bridge, began at Derby before switching, whilst Andrew (AJ) Harris, is currently part of the backroom team at the County Ground having played for both.
Amongst other players to have appeared for both counties are: Harold Rhodes, Brian Bolus, John Morris, Matt Dowman, Mark Saxelby,Wayne Dessaur and Akhil Patel.
Milestones
A number of Nottinghamshire players are approaching individual milestones in first class cricket. Ed Cowan has now scored 5998 runs and Ben Phillips has 2991.
Andy Carter has taken 49 wickets and Michael Lumb has 99 catches to his name.
Purely for Nottinghamshire, Samit Patel has claimed 146 wickets.
Team news
The Nottinghamshire squad is bolstered by the availability of Stuart Broad. The England all-rounder has been given dispensation by the ECB to play for Notts in the next two matches, against Derbyshire and Durham.
Graeme Swann is nearing fitness after his elbow operation and his return to duty is being assessed on a daily basis.
Otherwise Mick Newell has a full strength squad to select from, with Steven Mullaney pushing for a place amongst the batsmen after his century against Durham MCCU.
Competition for the bowling spots remains as competitive as ever, with Harry Gurney impressing against the students after missing the Middlesex match.