Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1939 was the last cricket season before World War II, when the English club Derbyshire had been playing for sixty-eight years. It was their forty first season in the County Championship and they won ten matches in the Championship, to finish ninth.

1939 season

Derbyshire played 28 matches in the County Championship, one against Oxford University and one against the touring West Indians. They won eleven matches altogether, ten in the County Championship. Robin Buckston was in his third season as captain. Denis Smith scored most runs and Bill Copson took most wickets.

Nearly all the players had been members of the 1936 championship winning team and the only player to make his debut was Cliff Gladwin whose low scores and failure to take a wicket gave little inkling that he would turn out to be Derbyshire's main wicket-taker in the years after World War II.

Matches

{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;" |- ! colspan="6"| List of matches |- !No. !Date !V !Result !Margin !Notes

|1 |10 May 1939 Cricket Archive - Oxford University v Derbyshire 10 May 1939 | |Oxford University The University Parks, Oxford | style="background:#0f0;"|Won | 163 runs | W H Copson 5-12 and 5-9; Pether 5-7; A V Pope 5-30

|2 |13 May 1939 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Surrey 13 May 1939 | Surrey Queen's Park, Chesterfield |bgcolor="#FFCC00"|Drawn | | Gregory 5-46; W H Copson 5-47

|3 |20 May 1939 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Northamptonshire 20 May 1939 | Northamptonshire County Ground, Derby | style="background:#0f0;"|Won | 10 wickets

|4 |27 May 1939 Cricket Archive - Warwickshire v Derbyshire 27 May 1939 | Warwickshire Edgbaston, Birmingham | style="background:#f00;"|Lost | 71 runs | Dollery 177; W H Copson 5-47; Hollies 6-48 and 5-79; T. B. Mitchell 5-112

|5 |31 May 1939 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Kent 31 May 1939 | Kent Rutland Recreation Ground, Ilkeston | style="background:#0f0;"|Won | 5 wickets | W H Copson 5-39;

|6 |03 Jun 1939 Cricket Archive - Lancashire v Derbyshire 03 Jun 1939 | Lancashire Old Trafford, Manchester | style="background:#f00;"|Lost | Innings and 105 runs | Paynter 222; Phillipson 5-38

|7 |07 Jun 1939 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Worcestershire 07 Jun 1939 | WorcestershireQueen's Park, Chesterfield | style="background:#0f0;"|Won | 315 runs | D Smith 123; A V Pope6-47

|8 |10 Jun 1939 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v West Indians 10 Jun 1939 | West Indies County Ground, Derby | style="background:#fc0;"|Drawn | | W H Copson 6-73

|9 |14 Jun 1939 Cricket Archive - Surrey v Derbyshire 14 Jun 1939 | Surrey Woodbridge Road, Guildford | style="background:#0f0;"|Won | Innings and 43 runs | Parker 6-34; A V Pope 6-44; G H Pope 5-46

|10 |17 Jun 1939 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Lancashire 17 Jun 1939 | Lancashire Park Road Ground, Buxton | style="background:#fc0;"|Drawn | | T S Worthington 101

|11 |21 Jun 1939 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Leicestershire 21 Jun 1939 | Leicestershire Queen's Park, Chesterfield | style="background:#0f0;"|Won | 9 wickets | H Smith 5-64; L F Townsend 5-45

|12 |24 Jun 1939 Cricket Archive - Yorkshire v Derbyshire 24 Jun 1939 | Yorkshire Bramall Lane, Sheffield | style="background:#f00;"|Lost | 276 runs | Barber 100; G H Pope 6-44; Smurthwaite 5-7; Smailes 10-47

|13 |28 Jun 1939 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Sussex 28 Jun 1939 | Sussex County Ground, Derby | style="background:#f00;"|Lost | 13 runs | T S Worthington 119; W H Copson 6-64; Duffield 5-38; Langridge 3-5Langridge scored a hat-trick

|14 |01 Jul 1939 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Essex 01 Jul 1939 | Essex Queen's Park, Chesterfield | style="background:#0f0;"|Won | 10 wickets | W H Copson 6-57; Stephenson 6-41

|15 |08 Jul 1939 Cricket Archive - Nottinghamshire v Derbyshire 08 Jul 1939 | Nottinghamshire Trent Bridge, Nottingham | style="background:#fc0;"|Drawn | | T. B. Mitchell 5-70

|16 |12 Jul 1939 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Middlesex 12 Jul 1939 | Middlesex County Ground, Derby | style="background:#0f0;"|Won | 6 wickets | W H Copson 7-39

|17 |15 Jul 1939 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Yorkshire 15 Jul 1939 | Yorkshire Queen's Park, Chesterfield | style="background:#fc0;"|Drawn

|18 |19 Jul 1939 Cricket Archive - Worcestershire v Derbyshire 19 Jul 1939 | Worcestershire Tipton Road, Dudley | style="background:#fc0;"|Drawn | | D Smith 132

|19 |22 Jul 1939 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Somerset 22 Jul 1939 | SomersetCounty Ground, Derby | style="background:#fc0;"|Drawn | | Buse 5-76; G H Pope 5-59; T. B. Mitchell 5-66; Andrews 5-45

|20 |26 Jul 1939 Cricket Archive - Middlesex v Derbyshire 26 Jul 1939 | Middlesex Lord's Cricket Ground, St John's Wood | style="background:#f00;"|Lost | Innings and 24 runs | Denis Compton 214; Sims 8-32 and 5-128

|21 |29 Jul 1939 Cricket Archive - Kent v Derbyshire 29 Jul 1939 | Kent Bat and Ball Ground, Gravesend | style="background:#f00;"|Lost | 171 runs | Ames 159; Todd 106; Harding 5-56

|22 |02 Aug 1939 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Gloucestershire 02 Aug 1939 | Gloucestershire Queen's Park, Chesterfield | style="background:#fc0;"|Drawn | | Scott 7-63; T. B. Mitchell 6-71

|23 |05 Aug 1939 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Warwickshire 05 Aug 1939 | Warwickshire Ind Coope Ground, Burton-on-Trent | style="background:#fc0;"|Drawn | | Grove 5-78

|24 |09 Aug 1939 Cricket Archive - Northamptonshire v Derbyshire 09 Aug 1939 | Northamptonshire County Ground, Northampton | style="background:#fc0;"|Drawn | | Brookes 101; G H Pope 6-38

|25 |12 Aug 1939 Cricket Archive - Essex v Derbyshire 12 Aug 1939 | Essex Southchurch Park, Southend-on-Sea | style="background:#f00;"|Lost | Innings and 31 runs | Nichols 6-18 and 5-26; Farnes 5-52

|26 |16 Aug 1939 Cricket Archive - Gloucestershire v Derbyshire 16 Aug 1939 | Gloucestershire College Ground, Cheltenham | style="background:#0f0;"|Won | 1 run | W H Copson 5-45;A V Pope 5-25; Lambert 6-69; T. B. Mitchell 5-75

|27 |19 Aug 1939 Cricket Archive - Derbyshire v Nottinghamshire 19 Aug 1939 | Nottinghamshire Rutland Recreation Ground, Ilkeston | style="background:#0f0;"|Won | 147 runs | G H Pope 121

|28 |23 Aug 1939 Cricket Archive - Sussex v Derbyshire 23 Aug 1939 | Sussex The Saffrons, Eastbourne | style="background:#f00;"|Lost | Innings and 39 runs | T. B. Mitchell 8-149 Nye 5-49

|29 |26 Aug 1939 Cricket Archive - Somerset v Derbyshire 26 Aug 1939 | SomersetCounty Ground, Taunton | style="background:#0f0;"|Won | 7 wickets | A F Townsend 142; Buse 8-41

|30 |30 Aug 1939 Cricket Archive - Leicestershire v Derbyshire 30 Aug 1939 | Leicestershire Aylestone Road, Leicester | style="background:#fc0;"|Drawn | | Sperry 7-48; W H Copson 6-39

Statistics County Championship batting averages Name Matches Inns Runs High score Average 100s G H Pope 28 46 1397 121 34.07 1 D Smith 28 51 1468 132 31.91 2 T S Worthington 24 40 1036 119 28.77 2 A E Alderman 28 48 1138 91 25.86 0 A V Pope 28 41 768 65 21.94 A F Townsend 11 21 400 142* 21.05 1 L F Townsend 22 33 647 92 20.87 0 AEG Rhodes 26 39 468 72 12.64 0 TD Hounsfield 13 19 179 36 11.18 0 RHR Buckston 17 27 236 33 10.26 0 T R Armstrong 2 10 8* 10.00 0 H Elliott 25 36 244 25 9.76 0 W H Copson 26 34 206 26 7.92 0 C Gladwin 4 7 53 16 7.57 0 T. B. Mitchell 26 35 172 27 6.14 0 Batting and Fielding for Derbyshire County Championship 1939

County Championship bowling averages

Name Balls Runs Wickets BB Average W H Copson 4404 1856 109 7-39 17.02 A V Pope 4301 1734 86 6-44 20.16 T. B. Mitchell 2744 1728 80 8-149 21.60 G H Pope 3332 1474 78 6-38 18.89 AEG Rhodes 976 477 25 3-14 19.08 L F Townsend 580 245 8 5-45 30.62 D Smith 24 10 1 1-10 10.00 T R Armstrong 88 54 0 C Gladwin 144 78 0 Bowling for Derbyshire County Championship 1939

Wicket Keeper

Harry Elliott Catches 48, Stumping 11 Albert Alderman Catches 17, Stumping 1

See also Derbyshire County Cricket Club seasons 1939 English cricket season

References