Captain Sydney Evershed Most runs William Storer Most catches William Storer | County Championship 9 Most wickets George Davidson | |
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Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1898 was the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire had been playing for twenty-seven years. It was their fourth season in the County Championship and they won three matches to finish ninth in the Championship table.
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1898 season
Derbyshire played sixteen games in the County Championship in 1898 and one match against MCC. The captain for the year was Sydney Evershed in his eighth season as captain. William Storer was top scorer with three centuries which he achieved while also bowling to take 28 wickets and being a useful wicket-keeper. George Davidson took most wickets at 65 as well as scoring a century. The season saw many high scores, and against Hampshire in August, four Derbyshire players Levi Wright, William Storer, William Chatterton and George Davidson scored centuries followed by two more from the Hampshire players in the same match. The Derbyshire total of 645 runs was to remain their highest match score until it was surpassed in the 2007 season. Two matches later, Yorkshire set a record score against Derbyshire of 662 runs when Jack Brown scored 300 and John Tunnicliffe 243 in Walter Sugg's benefit match before Brown deliberately knocked down his wicket. It remained a national partnership record until two more Yorkshiremen, Percy Holmes and Herbert Sutcliffe, made 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton in 1932.
The Yorkshire match was Derbyshire's second match at Queen's Park, Chesterfield, the first being earlier in the season against Surrey. The size of the crowd at that game made the experiment well worth while and the ground, described as mre pleasing to the eye than the County Ground, became a regular venue for several matches a season. The game against Surrey was not without incident as superb lob bowling by D. L. A. Jephson, gave him nine Derbyshire wickets for 55 runs in the two innings, Derbyshire supporters were upset by Jephson's lobs, and protested vigorously against them, saying that this was unfair bowling.
The most significant addition to the Derbyshire squad in the season was Billy Bestwick as well known for his antics off the pitch as his demon bowling. William Ellis played the first of several seasons at the club when he played occasional games. Alfred Charlesworth and James Wright also made their debuts and played several matches in the season, although only Wright played in a subsequent season. William Prince, John Bourne and Solomon Hardy each played just one career match for Derbyshire in the season