Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1876 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire played their sixth season.

Hampshire replaced Nottinghamshire as the third county to play Derbyshire, together with Lancashire and Kent. Derbyshire also played their first match against MCC, which was to become a regular feature. Mycroft achieved 17 wickets for 103 runs in a match which remains a record match analysis for Derbyshire.

The season was clouded with the death in a railway accident of Frederick Thornhill after just one chance to play for the county.

1876 season

All Derbyshire's matches were first class in the 1876 season. They played six county games, two each against Lancashire, Kent and Hampshire, and one match against MCC. Derbyshire lost both games against Lancashire, but were honours even with Kent and Hampshire, and beat MCC at Lords.

The captain for the year was Robert Smith. The side was well established but had three newcomers. Frederick Keeton, a licensed victualler, played the first of several seasons for Derbyshire and Amos Hind a framework knitter, also made his debut, to play one more season in 1877. Frederick Thornhill, a railway worker, played a single match for the club in June, but a month later on 23 July 1876 died at Toton Sidings, the largest marshalling yards of the Midland Railway. Three players who took part in Derbyshire's first match played their last season for Derbyshire, each appearing in one game. These were Unwin Sowter, John Burnham and John Tilson.

In the first match against Lancashire, Lancashire made 163 in their first innings, and Derbyshire replied with 60. They had to follow on, and achieving 78 in the second innings, lost by an innings. In the second match, their first against Hampshire Derbyshire scored 179 in the first innings and Hampshire made 98 in response and had to follow-on. Hampshire scored 156 in the second innings and Derbyshire made the necessary 80 with 8 wickets in hand. Against MCC Derbyshire opened with 229 with a contribution of 77 from Hind. MCC replied with 104 and managed 76 in the follow-on to give Derbyshire an innings victory. Against Kent, Derbyshire scored 107 in the first innings and Kent replied with 121. Derbyshire's second innings score of 170 set a target Kent could not achieve and they finished on 113 to give Derbyshire 43 run victory. In the second match against Lancashire, Derbyshire replied with 63 to Lancashire's 111. In the second innings Lancashire made 172 and Derbyshire ended the second innings 95 runs behind on 125. In the second match against Kent, Derbyshire made 147 in the first innings and Kent made 145. In the second innings Derbyshire made 112, and Kent were able to make the necessary 116 to win the match with two wickets in hand. In the last match against Hampshire, Derbyshire opened with 115 and Hampshire made 63 in reply. In the second innings Derbyshire made 91, but Hampshire went on to make 145 to win with one wicket in hand. Mycroft achieved a record match analysis of 17 wickets for 103 runs against Hampshire in the match.

John Platts was top scorer and William Mycroft took most wickets.

Matches

List of first-class matchesNo.DateVResult MarginNotes11 Jun 1876 Cricket Archive Lancashire v Derbyshire 01 Jun 1876 Lancashire Old Trafford, Manchester Lost Innings and 25 runs W Mycroft 6-71; W McIntyre 7-33 and 7-39 25 Jun 1876 Cricket Archive Derbyshire v Hampshire 05 Jun 1876 Hampshire County Ground, Derby Won 8 Wickets H Holmes 5-57315 Jun 1876 Cricket Archive MCC v Derbyshire 15 Jun 1876MCC Lord's Cricket Ground, St John's Wood Won Innings and 49 runsW Mycroft 6-30 and 5-44419 Jun 1876 Cricket Archive Derbyshire v Kent 19 Jun 1876 Kent County Ground, Derby Won 43 runsC Absolom 5-60 and 6-74; W Hickton 5-52 and 6-415 3 Jul 1876 Cricket Archive Derbyshire v Lancashire 03 Jul 1876 Lancashire County Ground, Derby Lost 95 runsA Watson 6-26; W McIntyre 6-59 620 Jul 1876 Cricket Archive Kent v Derbyshire 20 Jul 1876 Kent Higher Common Ground, Tunbridge Wells Lost 2 wickets W Foord-Kelcey 5-2'; J T B D Platts 6-68; GG Hearne 5-46; W Mycroft 5-51724 Jul 1876 Cricket Archive Hampshire v Derbyshire 24 Jul 1876Hampshire Day's (Antelope) Ground, Southampton Lost 1 Wicket J Galpin 5-42; A Ridley 5-70 and 6-42; W Mycroft 9-25 and 8-78

Statistics

Cricketers who played and their first-class batting performances Name Am/Pro Age Hand Matches Inns Runs High score Average 100sW Rigley P 24 R 4 7 155 51 22.14 0 J T B D Platts P 27 L 7 13 235 53 19.58 0G Frost A 27 R 4 7 109 52 18.16 0J Smith A 34 R 3 5 83 35 16.60 0T Foster P 27 R 7 12 193 43 16.08 0W Hickton P 33 R 4 7 71 30 14.20 0A Hind 26 R 7 13 179 77 13.76 0R P Smith A 27 R 7 13 165 43 12.690A Shuker A 27 R 2 4 46 20 11.50 0A Smith 29 R 7 12 59 19 8.42 0W G Curgenven A 34 R 4 7 52 13 7.42 0W Mycroft P 35 R 7 12 52 16 4.330H Shaw A 22 R 2 3 13 9 6.50 0G Hay A 25 R 3 5 19 9* 6.33 0J W Burnham A 36 R 1 2 12 8 6.00 0S Richardson A 32 R 4 7 36 14 5.14 0F W Keeton A 20 R 1 2 7 5 3.50 0U Sowter A 37 R 1 1 2 2 2.00 0J Tilson A 31 R 1 2 3 3 1.50 0F Thornhill A 29 1 2 0 0 0.00 0

Smith played two matches for North v South, two for a United North of England v United South of England and one for an All England, giving him a first-class run total of 327.

First-class bowling averages Name Hand Balls Runs Wickets BB AverageW Mycroft L F 1673 616 62 9-25 9.94 J T B D Platts R F 802 436 25 6-68 17.44 W Hickton R F 616 259 22 6-41 11.77 A Hind R round M 434 139 8 3-23 17.37 G Hay R round M 132 55 2 1-12 27.50 W Rigley 16 7 1 1-7 7.00

Mycroft played five games for MCC, one for an All England and one for a United North of England bringing his first class wicket total to 95.

Wicket Keeping A Smith Catches 13, Stumping 1

See also Derbyshire County Cricket Club seasons 1876 English cricket season

References