Book Review: The Jewel in Derbyshire’s Crown

 

The Jewel in Derbyshire’s Crown.

A History of Cricket in Queen’s Park, Chesterfield

David Griffin. Friends of Queen’s Park Cricket. Hardback. £19.99. 240 pages

Copies available from the Club Shop at The County Ground, Derby or by emailing friendsqpcricket@outlook.com.

Written by Derbyshire CCC’s Heritage Officer, David Griffin, The Jewel in Derbyshire’s Crown is a definitive account of the history of one of the game’s most picturesque out-grounds.

Friends of Queen’s Park Cricket, a registered charity, commissioned this book which is a key part of their objective to promote the heritage of cricket in the Park and attract a new audience to cricket in the town.

Queen's Park was opened in 1887 to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. Chesterfield CC first played on the ground seven years later. Derbyshire initially played at Queen’s Park in 1898 when Surrey were the visitors. The Brown Caps won the match by an innings and 43 runs with underarm lob bowler the wonderfully named Digby Loder Armroid Jephson taking 9-55 in the match. The game was a great success with 4,000 in attendance and gate receipts of £340 reported. A team photo of the Derbyshire side along with the team officials and the match umpires from this inaugural game is included in the publication. The eagled eye reader will spot the legendary figure of Mordecai Sherwin, the former Notts and England stumper, in his umpires coat on the far right of the back row. 

Notts were involved in the sixth match at the venue, winning by 165 runs in August 1900 and have subsequently appeared in a further 13 championship and 4 List A games on the ground famed for it’s fast and bouncy wickets. Notts visited once more in 1904 winning by 330 runs with John Gunn recording a hat trick. In the same season that Essex made a memorable visit to North Derbyshire. Percy Perrin scored 343 not out as Essex piled up 597. Derbyshire’s replied with 548 with Derbyshire opener Charles Ollivierre contributing 229.  The St Vincent born Ollivierre was the first Black player to play championship cricket. Essex unbelievably then collapsed to 97 all out and the Peakites strolled to a 9-wicket victory. This legendary game attracted more than 8,000 spectators. Queen’s Park had by then become a regular feature on the Derbyshire calendar. It’s idyllic tree-lined setting with a view of the crooked spire and with a raised grassed bank at square leg ensured that attendances and ground receipts were larger than those achieved at the County headquarters at Derby. This despite as Griffin observed the population of Chesterfield being only 30,000 compared to 110,000 at Derby during the Edwardian era

In May 1921 Derbyshire beat Notts by the narrow margin of 23 runs. The gate receipts for this game were £944 8s 9d a new ground record; a concurrent coal strike not affecting matters. Chesterfield could hardly be described as an out ground by this time, hosting five championship games a season. Many of the 1936 championship winning team were born, raised and lived in mining communities surrounding the town. As Griffin observed between 1931 and 1981 Chesterfield (295) hosted more championship games than Derby (285). In May 1975 Derbyshire, following a fall out with the local council, gave up the tenancy of the County Ground and did not return until May 1977 on a signing of a new 125-year lease. During this time, There was talk of moving the headquarters to Chesterfield but the logistics of moving to what and always has been a public park proved an impossible mountain to climb. This despite grandiose plans of having a new pavilion, banqueting suite and indoor cricket nets at Queen’s Park. With Derbyshire putting much more money into their headquarters in the 1980s and 1990s and facilities declining at Chesterfield, the majority of fixtures were now at headquarters. Then came the heartbreaking decision of stopping first-class cricket at Chesterfield following the 1998 season. Following a grant of over £4 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund facilities were upgraded across Queen’s Park and county cricket returned in 2006 with a festival week of cricket 

Notts’ last appearance at Queen’s Park the following season (2007) was unplanned. Queen’s Park was hit by mid-summer floods and the Chesterfield festival was cancelled but with the ground sufficiently recovered the Notts fixture was switched from Derby to Queen’s Park. Notts thus made their first appearance at Chesterfield since 1982 and “star of show” was Notts skipper Stephen Fleming’s who scored 264-ball 243 “which was of a class-above anything else on display”. Notts won by an innings and six runs gaining promotion to Division 1 that season.

The festival has gone from strength to strength over the last two decades and the annual T20 match against Yorkshire grosses six figure receipts and a capacity ground to Chesterfield. Maybe it’s time to also send Notts Outlaws to this iconic venue.

This excellent book incorporates detailed reports of a host of memorable matches. It also includes a 7-page record section which tell us that Topsy Wass has more five-wicket innings (seven) and 10-wicket bags (five) than any other visiting bowler. Given that the author has been Derbyshire official photography for a number of years it includes many photos both from his lens and extensive Derbyshire CCC archive. A number of cricket personalities including Geoff Boycott, Michael Holding, Peter Kirsten, Bob Taylor and John Wright give their individual recollections of playing at Queen’s Park. A brief history of Chesterfield CC is also included.