Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1920 was the English cricket club Derbyshire's fiftieth season. It was the club's twenty-second season in the County Championship and the most disastrous season ever experienced by any side since the County Championship was established.W.T. Taylor History of Derbyshire cricket Wisden 1953 Derbyshire lost 17 of the 18 matches played and the other was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
1920 season John Chapman was captain for the season, having held the post twice before World War I. The team was very unstable. Thirty eight players played for Derbyshire in the season, but only six played in more than half the matches. The club suffered from the absence of devastating bowler Billy Bestwick for all but one match, in which he took seven wickets, while other players such as Thomas Forrester and Arnold Warren were drawing to the end of their career. Leonard Oliver was top scorer and Arthur Morton with 89 wickets did the bulk of the bowling with Samuel Cadman. Oliver and Morton were the only players to score centuries.
Fifteen players made their debut in the season, half of them playing three or fewer matches. The most significant additions to the side were Harry Storer and wicket keeper Harry Elliott both of whom had long careers with the club and were members of the 1936 championship winning team. Newcomers Wilfred Carter, Jim Hutchinson, William Tomlinson, Anthony Jackson and Robert Bestwick played in several subsequent seasons. Those who only appeared in 1920 were Henry Radford, Kenneth Dobson and Douglas Linathan with three appearances, Albert Woodland and Allen Turner with two appearances and Geoffrey Brooke-Taylor, Timothy Boden and John Davis who only played one game each.
Matches {| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;" |- ! colspan="6"| List of matches |- !No. !Date !V !Result !Margin !Notes
|1 | 15 May 1920Cricket Archive - Yorkshire v Derbyshire 15 May 1920 | Yorkshire Bramall Lane, Sheffield | style="background:#f00;"|Lost |Innings and 223 runs | Kilner 206* |- |2 |19 May 1920 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Lancashire 19 May 1920 | Lancashire Queen's Park, Chesterfield | style="background:#f00;"|Lost |Innings and 160 runs | Makepeace 132; A Morton 6-73; Cook 7-8 |- |3 | 22 May 1920 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Warwickshire 22 May 1920 | Warwickshire County Ground, Derby | style="background:#f00;"|Lost |8 wickets | Howell 6-25 and 6-39; A Morton 5-44; SWA Cadman 5-36 |- |4 |12 Jun 1920 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Essex 12 Jun 1920 | Essex County Ground, Derby | style="background:#f00;"|Lost |6 wickets | Douglas 8-39; A Morton 5-94; Reeves 5-61 |- |5 |19 Jun 1920 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Northamptonshire 19 Jun 1920 | Northamptonshire Queen's Park, Chesterfield | style="background:#f00;"|Lost |114 runs | A Morton 5-61 and 6-35; Murdin 5-29 and 6-39 |- |6 |23 Jun 1920 Cricket Archive - Lancashire v Derbyshire 23 Jun 1920 | Lancashire Old Trafford, Manchester | style="background:#f00;"|Lost |Innings and 228 runs | Tyldesley 169 and 5-40; Cook 5-50; Dean 5-26 |- |7 |03 Jul 1920 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Nottinghamshire 03 Jul 1920 | Nottinghamshire Queen's Park, Chesterfield |Abandoned
|8 |07 Jul 1920 Cricket Archive - Leicestershire v Derbyshire 07 Jul 1920 | Leicestershire Aylestone Road, Leicester | style="background:#f00;"|Lost |6 wickets | King 8-61 and 5-41;W Bestwick 5-41; A Morton 5-33 |- |9 |10 Jul 1920 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Yorkshire 10 Jul 1920 | Yorkshire County Ground, Derby | style="background:#f00;"|Lost |Innings and 71 runs | Holmes 104; Robinson 5-20; Rhodes 7-24 |- |10 |14 Jul 1920 Cricket Archive - Sussex v Derbyshire 14 Jul 1920 | Sussex County Ground, Hove | style="background:#f00;"|Lost |134 runs | A Morton 6-60; Cox 7-8 |- |11 |17 Jul 1920 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Somerset 17 Jul 1920 | SomersetCounty Ground, Derby | style="background:#f00;"|Lost |5 wickets | A Morton 8-37; Robson 6-20 |- |12 |24 Jul 1920 Cricket Archive - Northamptonshire v Derbyshire 24 Jul 1920 | Northamptonshire County Ground, Northampton | style="background:#f00;"|Lost |80 runs | SWA Cadman 6-34 and 8-70; Wells 6-54 |- |13 |31 Jul 1920 Cricket Archive - Warwickshire v Derbyshire 31 Jul 1920 | Warwickshire Edgbaston, Birmingham | style="background:#f00;"|Lost |220 runs | SWA Cadman 5-55; Howell 7-45 |- |14 |07 Aug 1920 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Sussex 07 Aug 1920 | Sussex Queen's Park, Chesterfield | style="background:#f00;"|Lost |Innings and 108 runs | WJV Tomlinson 5-53 |- |15 |11 Aug 1920 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Leicestershire 11 Aug 1920 | Leicestershire County Ground, Derby | style="background:#f00;"|Lost |Innings and 14 runs | A Morton 105; Astill 5-24 |- |16 |14 Aug 1920 Cricket Archive - Essex v Derbyshire 14 Aug 1920 | Essex Southchurch Park, Southend-on-Sea | style="background:#f00;"|Lost |104 runs | A Morton 5-57; Louden 8-36 |- |17 |26 Aug 1920 Cricket Archive - Nottinghamshire v Derbyshire 26 Aug 1920 | Nottinghamshire Trent Bridge, Nottingham | style="background:#f00;"|Lost |197 runs | Whysall 142; L Oliver 170; Gunn 123 |- |18 |01 Sep 1920 Cricket Archive - Somerset v Derbyshire 01 Sep 1920 | Somerset Clarence Park, Weston-super-Mare | style="background:#f00;"|Lost |10 wickets | Daniell 102; White 7-33 and 5-46
Statistics County Championship batting averages Name Matches Inns Runs High score Average 100s HW Smith 1 2 34 24* 34.00 0 L Oliver 12 24 546 170 22.75 1 GP Brooke-Taylor 1 2 44 30 22.00 0 SWA Cadman 17 34 528 47 16.00 0 H Elliott 14 28 299 42* 15.73 0 CJ Corbett 4 8 109 61 15.57 0 A Morton 17 34 481 105* 15.51 1 A Warren 2 4 30 21* 15.00 0 W Carter 9 18 229 35 12.72 0 FG Peach 8 16 186 61* 12.40 0 WN Malthouse 4 8 68 26* 9.71 0 JM Hutchinson 5 10 93 44 9.30 0 GF Bell 3 6 50 20 8.33 0 AW Woodland 2 4 27 19* 9.00 0 H Wild 8 16 135 26 8.43 0 J Chapman 14 27 191 27 7.95 0 A Severn 3 6 47 33 7.83 0 JD Southern 2 4 30 20 7.50 0 TW Boden 1 2 14 9 7.00 0 DV Linathan 3 6 35 14* 7.00 0 H Storer 12 24 147 32 6.68 0 WJV Tomlinson 5 10 58 15 6.44 0 LE Flint 1 2 12 6 6.00 0 SM Holden 1 2 6 6* 6.00 0 G Beet 6 12 69 19 5.75 0 HW Radford 3 6 23 14 5.75 0 GR Jackson 9 18 92 14 5.11 0 TF Revill 1 2 10 5 5.00 0 FA Barber 2 4 19 8 4.75 0 CF Root 1 2 9 7 4.50 0 JW Davis 1 2 9 8 4.50 0 T Forrester 2 2 6 6 3.00 0 W Bestwick 1 2 6 5* 3.00 0 RS Bestwick 2 4 9 6 2.25 0 AHM Jackson 2 4 7 5 1.75 0 KWC Dobson 3 6 6 3 1.50 0 J Horsley 1 2 2 2 1.00 0 W Reader-Blackton 2 4 4 1 1.00 0 A Turner 2 4 4 2 1.00 0Cricket Archive Derbyshire batting 1920
County Championship bowling averages Name Balls Runs Wickets BB Average A Morton 4611 1808 89 8-37 20.31 SWA Cadman 3321 1211 58 8-70 20.87 WJV Tomlinson 622 272 14 5-53 19.42 H Storer 642 350 10 3-23 35.00 A Warren 288 141 9 4-45 15.66 W Bestwick 318 97 7 5-41 13.85 A Turner 252 138 6 3-66 23.00 FA Barber 318 117 5 2-30 23.40 FG Peach 210 149 4 3-50 37.25 HW Radford 186 86 4 2-18 21.50 SM Holden 132 72 3 3-72 24.00 T Forrester 306 161 2 2-116 80.50 KWC Dobson 132 99 1 1-25 99.00 JM Hutchinson 138 81 1 1-35 81.00 DV Linathan 102 78 1 1-15 78.00 W Reader-Blackton 18 7 1 1-7 7.00 LE Flint 102 74 1 1-74 74.00 RS Bestwick 126 55 0 J Chapman 18 12 0 J Horsley 48 31 0 AHM Jackson 132 93 0 WN Malthouse 114 69 0 L Oliver 12 8 0 CF Root 36 17 0 H Wild 6 11 0 AW Woodland 90 69 0Cricket Archive Derbyshire bowling in 1920
Wicket Keeping George Beet - Catches 6, Stumping 2 H Elliott - Catches 17, Stumping 9
See also Derbyshire County Cricket Club seasons 1920 English cricket season Imperfect season
References