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The Central Co-op County Ground
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Derbyshire Men
Leeds/Bradford UCCE
Derbyshire’s first official game of the 2026 season is a three-day friendly against Leeds Bradford University Centre of Cricketing Excellence (UCCE) at The Central Co-op County Ground, Derby beginning on 28 March.
Heritage Officer David Griffin previews the game.
This is the eighth scheduled fixture between the two sides although only one of them, in 2019, was a first class game.
That match at Derby began on 26th March, the earliest Derbyshire have ever played a first class game. The home side declared twice in the game on 398 for five and 232 for five with Wayne Madsen (123) and Harvey Hosein (138*) the leading contributors in Derbyshire’s first innings.
The university side could only muster 200 and 94 with the wickets shared amongst the bowlers, Ravi Rampaul impressing as he took five for 41 across two innings.
Derbyshire’s win by 336 runs remains their fourth largest margin by runs.
The remaining six matches were all non-first-class and with the exception of the abandoned game at Weetwood, Leeds in 2018, were all staged at Derby
Rain impacted the matches in 2001 and 2003 although Michael Di Venuto (127) in 2001 and Steve Selwood (157) and Dominic Hewson (153) in 2003 all registered hundreds.
There was considerably more play in 2009 but Derbyshire elected to concentrate on batting practice with Wavell Hinds (125), Ross Whiteley (103) and John Sadler (100) all reaching three figures.
In 2011 the students gained a 132-runs first innings lead, Luis Reece scoring 56 for his university and Tom Knight taking seven for 153 for Derbyshire.
The match at Weetwood never remotely looked like taking place with the umpires calling off the three-day match at 9.30am on the second morning, such was the state of the outfield following torrential rain.
The final game in this series took place at Derby in 2024 when rain again impacted on the game, although Derbyshire used nine bowlers in the UCCE’s innings of 226 for two.
And whilst this forthcoming game is not a first-class fixture, players will doubtless want to take this final opportunity to blow the winter blues away while some will welcome the chance to stake a claim for a place in the first team ahead of the opening County Championship match.
Fri 27th March 2026
Fri 27th March 2026
Fri 27th March 2026
Thu 26th March 2026
