Best of Enemies by John Shawcroft Book Review

 

Best of Enemies.

The rivalry between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, and Derby County and Nottingham Forest  

John Shawcroft. ACS Publications. Softback. £17.00. 245 pages

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Written by the distinguished Derbyshire cricket historian and writer John Shawcroft. Best of Enemies traces the sporting rivalry between Derbyshire CCC and Nottinghamshire CCC and Derby County FC and Nottingham Forest FC.

Although the first mention of cricket in Derbyshire (1757 in Wirksworth) predates Notts (1771 – Nottingham v Sheffield), cricket in Notts, certainly from early 1800s, was much stronger than in Derbyshire for over 100 years.

John Cartwright, born in Eastwood, was along with Walter Boden instrumental in the formation of Derbyshire CCC in 1870. In the same year, Chellaston born Jack Platts was the man who bowled the fateful delivery for MCC that led to death of Notts’ George Summers who was hit on the head by a rising ball at Lord’s. Summers retired hurt and died in Nottingham a few days later due to his injury.

In 1873, Derbyshire clashed with Notts for the first time at Wirksworth. Notts the leading first-class county of the era agreed to meet their near neighbours but not on an equal footing, the three-day match was actually the XVI of Derbyshire versus the XI of Notts. Notts though had underestimated their opponents and lost the encounter by an innings and eight runs. Undeterred though the XVI v XI concept continued the following year, with Derbyshire winning at Trent Bridge by 14 wickets!

At Trent Bridge in May 1875, Notts met Derbyshire in an eleven-a-side contest, which was the inaugural first-class fixture between the two sides, Notts winning by 93 runs and also triumphing in the return by 117 runs at Derby three months later. Notts were County Champions that season.

Notts continued to have complete dominance over their opponents, although their were no matches between 1886 and 1894 inclusive with Derbyshire not considered first-class. After 25 first-class meetings of which Notts had won 15, Derbyshire finally broke their first-class duck when they beat Notts by 114 runs at Derby in July 1903. The Peakites had to wait a further five years for their second victory, winning at Chesterfield in 1908. The author met the now old and frail former Notts all-rounder John Gunn in 1961 and he remembered that in those long off Edwardian days, Derbyshire “had some decent batsmen when I started, and later on they had some good fast bowlers in Arnold Warren and Bill Bestwick. But they could be a bit of a rough lot.”

It was the formation of two cross-border cricket leagues based on the numerous mining communities, the Bassetlaw in 1904 and the Notts and Derbyshire Border League in 1920 that eventually ensured parity between the two county teams. The latter league was based in the author’s heartland of the Erewash Valley and was inspired by the opening up of the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Tramway in 1914 laid on 11 miles of track between Ripley and Cinderhill. The Green and Cream ‘Ripley Rattlers’ provided a valuable service until 1932 when they were superseded by motorised buses.

By the end of 1929, Derbyshire had only won five of the 74 first-class encounters against Notts, but they then hit their golden period culminating them winning the county championship for the first and only time in 1936, although during that season Notts won at Ilkeston by six wickets and then the two teams drew at Worksop three weeks later in the return, both contests drawing huge crowds. With Derby County also finishing runners-up in the Football League in 1936, its no wonder there was a constitutional crisis later in the year with King Edward VIII abdicating! Derbyshire doubled Notts for the first time in 1934. During this bygone era both teams comprised entirely of locally born players whose skills were developed along each other in the tough and uncompromising Bassetlaw and Notts and Derby Border Leagues.

Long-time supporters will remember the epic battles on the Rutland Recreation Ground in Ilkeston, the first encounter being in 1925 with the last match in 1994, where a cover driven four by Wayne Noon off Devon Malcolm saw Notts home by one-wicket in a nail-biting thriller. This turned out to be the last first-class shot on a venue which had hosted 93 first-class matches including 46 cross border contests which Derbyshire winning 16, Notts eight with 22 draws.

Octogenarian Shawcroft, a retired sporting journalist is particularly strong on the encounters from the 1950s to 1970s and this enhanced by quotes from Derbyshire’s Edwin Smith and former Notts skipper John Clay. The descriptions of Sobers batting at Ilkeston are particularly strong as is the last game of 1973 between the old rivals at Trent Bridge. The two teams were in the two bottom positions in the Championship, and in a tight contest the match was drawn with Derbyshire accruing sufficient bonus points to ensure that Notts had the dubious distinction of gaining the wooden spoon by a solitary point. Derbyshire refused to chase 238 runs in 210 minutes with former Notts skipper Brian Bolus and Ian Buxton shutting up shop. “The crowd did not like it, nor did Sobers, who stalked around with a face like thunder” reported Gerald Mortimer in the Derby Telegraph.

After the struggles of 1970s both teams became much stronger in the following years supplemented by high class overseas stars. Notts winning the championship in 1981 and Derbyshire being the Nat West Trophy winners, beating Notts in a memorable low scoring quarter-final encounter on a humid day at the County Ground. The book remembers the 1989 Trent Bridge championship match which involved the pitch being switched half way through with Michael Holding refusing to continue with Notts winning by 70 runs but losing 25 points in the process for producing a sub-standard pitch. After 205 first-class encounters, Notts have won 69 of the meetings with Derbyshire winning 45, the disparity which was apparent for the first 50 years of the fixture has only really become apparent once more over the last 20 years where generally Notts have being a higher division than Derbyshire.

The book, which is recommended, would have better if it concentrated on cricket entirely, although only about a quarter of it concentrates on the footie. It turns out although Shawcroft is from Ripley and a Derbyshire CCC fanatic his footballing preference is very much in favour of the men dressed in Garibaldi. Derby County FC were formed in 1884 as the footballing section of Derbyshire CCC, playing their initial games at the Racecourse Ground before making the Baseball Ground their permanent home in 1895. Three years later, underdogs Forest beat Derby County 3-1 to win the FA Cup in 1898 at the Crystal Palace. However between 1906 and 1969 the two teams never met in the top flight and in fact where only the same division for four of those seasons. It was only after the arrival of Clough and Taylor at Derby that fuelled the bitter rivalry which has brewed for the last half century. Like the cricket, Forest hold their advantage over their rivals, 43 wins in 111 competitive matches, with 30 draws and 38 wins for The Rams.