Statistical Review: 2025 Season

The 2025 season was Derbyshire’s 139th in county cricket and it provided a plethora of fascinating statistical highlights.

Heritage Officer and Club Photographer David Griffin has covered every game and presents his statistical review of the summer.

As the players left the field at Canterbury in the warm lunchtime sunshine, there was delight all round for the smiling Derbyshire players and their smattering of supporters after Kent had subsided to an innings and 229 runs defeat to round off the season.

The performances and final position in the County Championship provided a welcome antidote to the white ball efforts which were significantly below par, with Derbyshire rising from bottom place in the table last year to third in 2025, an uplift not experienced since 1998.

Derbyshire were never outside the top three in the table and were actually in second place at seven different times during the summer, while their two defeats are the equal fewest – matching the two losses in 2012 – in the 134 seasons where they have played more than five first class matches. Third position in the second division and 188 points are both the best efforts since 2014.

Derbyshire’s runs tally from their batting line-up aggregated 6,855, an improvement on the 5,206 in 2024, and their bowlers also took more wickets, 215 in 2025 compared to 159 a year earlier.

At the heart of the improvement in 2025 was a significantly improved batting line-up, bolstered by the arrival of Australian Caleb Jewell, as well as the consistency of selection; Harry Came, Zak Chappell, Brooke Guest and Wayne Madsen were all ever-present with five others playing at least 11 games.

Jewell, a Tasmanian left-hander, gave early note of his talent with four half centuries in his first two matches of the season before producing a masterful 232 against Kent at Derby to help his side to an innings victory.

Jewell scored 1,005 first class runs at an average of 47.85 with 1,802 at 43.95 in all formats and having made 15 scores of 50 or more, his debut season has been an unqualified success. His return in 2026 will be eagerly anticipated.

In a hot, dry summer runs were in plentiful supply with 11 of Derbyshire’s 14 games aggregating more than 1,000 runs. There were 965 in the opening game against Gloucestershire while the games against Middlesex at Lord’s and Glamorgan at Derby were rain-affected. At one stage, there were 10 consecutive matches with 1,000 run aggregates – a record for Derbyshire.

The County Championship season began and ended with wins – the first such instance since 2012 – with both being dominated by Luis Reece. They also won two matches by an innings for the first time since 1992.

Reece, for the first time in his Derbyshire career played in only one form of the game in 2025 and produced some of the best cricket of his career. He scored 643 runs at an average of 64.30 and took 50 wickets at 19 and made one century and four fifties and took five wickets in an innings four times and ten in a match twice.

He became the first Derbyshire player to score a double century (211) and take five wickets in an innings in the emphatic win over Kent in the final game of the season and in the process completed the 500 runs / 50 wickets first class double for the county for the second time.

His four five wicket hauls were the most for Derbyshire since Mark Footitt in 2015 and nobody had previously taken ten in a match twice for the county since Dominic Cork in 2003. Reece’s average of just 19 is the lowest by a Derbyshire bowler taking 50 first class wickets since Cork averaged 16.68 in 2002.

In the final game of the season Reece reached 250 all format wickets for the county, in the process becoming the 11^th player to score 8,000 runs and take 250 wickets for Derbyshire.

Brooke Guest scored 1,018 all format runs including 651 at 36.16 in first class matches and in completing four consecutive seasons behind the wicket, became the first Derbyshire ‘keeper to appear in every first class match for four years in a row since George Dawkes in the late 1950s.

No Derbyshire wicketkeeper had scored 1,000 all format runs in a season four times until Guest reached four figures again in 2025 taking him ahead of Luke Sutton who performed the feat on three occasions.

Harry Came’s 1,200 all format runs included 843 in the Championship – his best yet – with an average of 38.31. He made a hundred against Gloucestershire at Bristol and a further seven half centuries. He also took part in seven century partnerships for the county in 2025, more than any other player.

Wayne Madsen, restored to the captaincy, produced another fruitful season, scoring 1,589 all format runs including 1,158 in the Championship at an average of 57.90. He made four hundreds, more than any other player and took his tally in first class matches to 42 for Derbyshire in addition to 135 fifties. His century against Kent at Canterbury was his 50^th in all forms of the game for Derbyshire.

He scored 1,000 or more all format runs for the 14^th time and his powers are clearly not waning, even at the age of 41, as he has only made more runs in a season for Derbyshire on five occasions.

Madsen played his 500^th all format match for Derbyshire, at Lord’s in September, joining a very short list of players who have appeared in as many games – Kim Barnett, Bob Taylor, Derek Morgan, Harry Elliott and Edwin Smith.

He was also the leading outfield catcher in red ball cricket with 18 although he surrendered his all format crown to Caleb Jewell who took 25 after Madsen had led the way for seven consecutive seasons as the leading catcher.

Madsen’s 198 against Kent at Canterbury was his 11^th score of 150 or more for Derbyshire, taking him level with John Wright with only Barnett (14) ahead of him.

And with a splendid flourish, in the innings win at Canterbury Madsen took part in his 100^th century partnership for Derbyshire in all formats while adding 358 with Reece for the third wicket, the third highest partnership in Derbyshire’s history.

Martin Andersson had made his debut for Derbyshire while on loan in 2018 taking four for 25, but it was the manner in which he batted in 2025 which impressed most observers. He made 979 all format runs including 745 in the Championship at an average of 49.66 including three hundreds and three fifties. Striking the ball confidently, Andersson also made an impressive 70 not out in the opening T20 game of the season.

Derbyshire’s 10 individual first class hundreds was double the number scored in 2024, with 14 scored in all formats. Opposition players made 22 all format centuries against Derbyshire, although nobody scored more than one.

Across all forms of the game Zak Chappell was once again Derbyshire’s leading wicket-taker with 56 to top the list for the third successive season, a feat not managed since Tim Groenewald did it between 2011 and 2013.

Bowling 452 overs, the most by any bowler, Chappell remained fit and was the second highest wicket-taker in first class and List A matches, and third in T20 cricket. He also scored 581 runs with a best score of 61.

In the Championship, Jack Morley bowled the most overs – 367 – and twice took five wickets in an innings, including six for 55 against Gloucestershire at Bristol and five for 99 in the win against Kent at Canterbury.

New Zealand’s Blair Tickner took 24 first class wickets while Anuj Dal contributed 281 runs and 19 wickets in red ball matches.

For many Derbyshire supporters, a real bonus in 2025 was the return of Ben Aitchison to fitness. His ability with the ball had been evident from the moment he made his debut in 2020 and in 2025 he looked back to his best taking 45 all format wickets. His 26 white ball wickets were the most for Derbyshire this year and included five for 29 in a T20 win over Yorkshire at Leeds.

In List A cricket, the highlight was a thumping 127 run win over Nottinghamshire, the fifth largest margin of victory in one day cricket by Derbyshire over a first class county. However, that couldn’t disguise the overall disappointment surrounding the Metro Bank One Day Cup campaign.

Derbyshire’s array of stroke makers played their part, taking Derbyshire past 300 in six consecutive matches, but unfortunately only one of those games was won – against Nottinghamshire – with one tied against Leicestershire and four losses.

With the much-anticipated game at Neath against Glamorgan abandoned due to rain, six points and eighth place was a step backwards after the five wins in 2024.

Caleb Jewell and Matt Montgomery both scored heavily, with Jewell making 438 runs at an average of 62.57 with a hundred and three fifties while Montgomery managed 422 at 70.33 with two centuries and a fifty. Montgomery will add to Mickey Arthur’s selection options when the former arrives to play all forms of the game in 2026.

Harry Came and Brooke Guest both averaged over 40 with the bat, although only Ben Aitchison, who took 13 wickets at 26.92 was able to take wickets at less than 30. Unsurprisingly, given the high totals throughout the tournament, only Aitchison (5.98) managed an economy rate of under six runs per over.

In the shortest form of the game, Derbyshire enjoyed two splendid T20 wins over Yorkshire, at Chesterfield and Headingley, plus a comprehensive win at Trent Bridge alongside a victory over Leicestershire in a Midlands Mania game at Edgbaston.

The margin of those wins, by seven wickets, eight wickets, 46 runs and seven wickets respectively, hinted at more to come, but those four wins represented the fewest in a T20 Blast campaign since 2021 when two matches were cancelled, although the 10 defeats were the most for a decade.

As with the longer form of white ball cricket, the batting was largely impressive, Aneurin Donald topping the run scoring list with 449 runs including a club record six half centuries. Three of those half centuries came from 13, 17 and 18 balls and Donald now holds the record for the equal fastest T20 fifty in the UK as well as having scored the five fastest T20 fifties for Derbyshire.

Wayne Madsen made 431 runs representing his fifth best T20 season for Derbyshire and Caleb Jewell 359 taking his white ball aggregate for the season to 797, a total only bettered for the county in a debut season by Dean Jones in 1996.

Ross Whiteley and Samit Patel both scored more than 200 runs but with the ball no bowler topped 20 wickets for the first time since 2021 although Mohammad Ghazanfar did impress with 16 wickets in his first appearance in the county game.

His economy rate was very good – 7.05 – and his performance at Headingley in the win over Yorkshire was exceptional, bowling four overs and taking two wickets for only five runs. Twenty of his 24 deliveries were dot balls.

Not to be outdone, in the same game Ben Aitchison became only the second Derbyshire bowler to record a T20 five wicket haul, his five for 29 only having been bettered by Tom Lungley whose five for 27 came at Leicester in 2009.

The win at Nottingham was the first there for a decade and built on the bedrock of Jewell’s 73 at the top of the order and a 65-runs partnership between Guest and Whiteley for the sixth wicket off only 33 balls.

Samit Patel was the standout bowler taking three for 14 against his former county.

Overall, the white ball matches saw some hugely impressive performances from Jewell, Madsen and Montgomery in particular with the bat, with Aitchison and Ghazanfar the pick of the bowlers, but there was a lack of depth overall which meant Derbyshire struggled to get over the line in many games.

Only four players made their debut in first class matches, the fewest since 2012, with only six new players used overall.

Three of the red ball debutants, Amrit Basra, Joe Hawkins and Rory Haydon all impressed and with new contracts signed during the latter part of the summer they should be an integral part of Derbyshire cricket in the coming seasons.

The ever-popular Fynn Hudson-Prentice returned on loan for four T20 games while Nick Potts and Mitch Wagstaff had limited opportunities. Pat Brown took 12 T20 wickets, the third most for the club, and there were also useful contributions in white ball cricket from Ross Whiteley.

Leaving the club, rarely a happy occurrence, David Lloyd, Samit Patel and Alex Thomson will depart with thanks for their contributions from members and supporters.

Ultimately, the 2025 season saw a significant improvement in first class cricket offset by a downturn in the two shorter forms of the game, and many players can be pleased with their output. The challenge for 2026, however, will to be more competitive across all three formats.

Finally, spare a thought for Kent’s Matt Parkinson. At Derby in May he conceded 204 runs in Derbyshire’s first innings of 587 for five declared, the home side’s highest ever team total against Kent. In the process he overtook Bill Reeves’ 121 year-old record for most runs conceded in an innings against Derbyshire.

In September, Derbyshire overtook that total with 698 for six declared with Parkinson conceding 188 runs, the fourth most runs conceded in an innings against Derbyshire.

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