Queen's Park, Chesterfield

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Ground information
Queen's Park


England
Location	Chesterfield
Establishment	1898
Seating capacity	7,000
End names	Lake End Pavilion End
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1898 – 1998	Derbyshire
2006 – present	Derbyshire
As of 01 February 2008 Source: Cricinfo

Queen's Park, Chesterfield, lies within a park in the centre of the town established for Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee in 1897 and is among the most attractive cricket grounds in the world. It is an attractive setting for cricket, with a bandstand, a small pavilion and is surrounded by mature trees. It was at one time surrounded by a banked cycle track. The park is the home of Chesterfield CC and also played home to Derbyshire CCC for 100 years between 1898 and 1998, seeing the county team return in 2006 after an 8 year absence. It is a small ground and slow to dry after rain, thus can provide a green wicket. The size of the ground however, lends itself to rapid scoring on good wickets. In 1948 a record 14,000 people watched the game against Yorkshire.

1 The Return of County Cricket
2 2007 Festival
3 Ground Records
4 External links

[edit] The Return of County Cricket

After a century of First-class cricket at Chesterfield between 1898 and 1998, the next seven seasons saw Derbyshire play no First Class or List 'A' matches on the ground.

However, following a multi-million pound refurbishment and upgrade of the entire park including the cricketing facilities, Derbyshire returned to the great ground in 2006 and were rewarded by sizable and enthusiastic crowds for each of the five days.

The festival week began with Derbyshire taking on Worcestershire in a County Championship Division Two game between the 26th and 29th July. The game ended in a draw, with Australian Marcus North avoiding defeat with a magnificent 161, including 24 boundaries. Attendances for all four days was excellent, and saw Derbyshire announce a four year deal to play County Cricket at the ground soon after the game.

The Sunday then saw a visit from a star-studded Surrey Brown Caps side and despite a heavy loss, a large crowd were treated to some splendid entertainment by Surrey batsman Ali Brown who scored 106 from just 68 deliveries.

The facilities incorporated extensive bar and catering facilities, members' enclosure and even corporate hospitality in an impressive marquee.

[edit] 2007 Festival

This year's festival was scheduled to run from the 25th to the 29th of July and would have consisted of a four day Liverpool Victoria County Championship game against Somerset and the NatWest Pro 40 opener against Kent Spitfires. Both of these matches were moved to Derbyshire's regular ground in Derby due to the Queen's Park ground being waterlogged. Instead, the festival began with the NatWest Pro 40 game against Durham Dynamos on the 4th of September and saw Durham win convincingly by seven wickets. The festival continued with the Liverpool Victoria County Championship game against Nottinghamshire from the 6th to the 9th of September, where Nottinghamshire won by an innings and six runs inside three days. Nottinghamshire skipper Stephen Fleming helped the visitors to the win, scoring 243 runs, including 40 fours.

[edit] Ground Records

Highest Team Total For - 552, v Essex, 2, 4-5 June 1928
Highest Team Total Against - 662, (Yorkshire), 18-20 August 1898
Lowest Team Total For - 30, v Nottinghamshire, 23-25 August 1913 (Derbyshire still won this game)
Lowest Team Total Against - 29, (Middlesex), 17-19 July 1957
Highest Individual Innings - 343*, PA Perrin (Essex), 18-20 July 1904 (Including 272 in boundaries)
Highest Partnership - 554, JT Brown (300) and J Tunnicliffe (243) (Yorkshire), 18-20 August 1898 (Record 1st wicket partnership which stood for 34 years before being beaten by P Holmes (224*) and H Sutcliffe (313). This partnership ranks at number 6 on the all time list of highest partnerships across the world)
Best Bowling Figures in an Innings - 10-66, JKR Graveney (Gloucestershire), 3-5 August 1949
Best Bowling Figures in a Match - 14-48, AG Slater, v Somerset, 21-23 June 1930
Most Wicket-Keeping Dismissals in an Innings - 7 (Four times)
Most Wicket-Keeping Dismissals in a Match - 11 (Twice)
Most Fielder Catches in an Innings - 5 (Four times)
Most Fielder Catches in a Match - 6 (Five times)