Match Preview: Middlesex (H)

Derbyshire’s penultimate group game of the Metro Bank One Day Cup sees them welcome Middlesex to The OurCoop County Ground, Derby.

Heritage Officer David Griffin previews the fixture.

There have been 59 scheduled one day games between Derbyshire and Middlesex, Derbyshire winning 23 and Middlesex 32. Two matches were abandoned and two ended as no result.

They first met in a Gillette Cup tie at Lord’s in 1965, with their first game at Derby taking place in the inaugural year of the Sunday League in 1969.

Both sides’ highest team totals came in the same game; Derbyshire making 270 for six at Derby in 1996, falling just short of Middlesex’ 278 for four.

Derbyshire’s lowest total of 90 was at Lord’s in 1987, with Middlesex’ low of 110 in the Benson and Hedges Cup quarter final at Derby in 1988 when Michael Holding and Devon Malcolm combined to take eight for 40 in 18 overs, before Kim Barnett’s unbeaten 69 saw Derbyshire to a nine wicket win.

There have been five individual hundreds scored for Derbyshire; Peter Bowler, Harry Came, Michael Di Venuto, Dean Jones and Adrian Kuiper for Derbyshire, with Jones’ 118 at Derby in 1996 the highest, while for Middlesex there have been four, by Nick Compton, Jason Pooley, Mark Ramprakash and Paul Stirling with Ramprakash’s 122 at Derby, also in 1996, being their highest.

Devon Malcolm, Graeme Welch and Barry Wood all took five or more wickets in a match, with Welch’s six for 31 at Derby in 2002 the best and for Middlesex, Steve Finn, Angus Fraser and Ben Hutton all took five in a match, but none bettered Fred Titmus’ 5 for 26 at Lord’s in 1970.

The last one day match between these teams at Derby resulted in an emphatic win for Derbyshire. Middlesex scored 266 all out in 49.4 overs with Daryn Dupavillon taking three wickets before Harry Came and Luis Reece added 216 for Derbyshire’s first wicket as the home side won comfortably by nine wickets, Harry Came ending the game unbeaten on 113.

That partnership between Came and Reece is Derbyshire’s highest by some distance in these matches.