A trip into Staffordshire to see Minor Counties cricket at Checkley this summer completed my set of grounds on which Derbyshire have played in that county. It all goes back a very long way as I was reminded the other day when I passed through Burton on Trent on my way home from a few days holiday in the Midlands.
As a boy and a young man I lived in Walsall at the southern tip of Staffordshire and can recall an epic cycle journey (a round trip of about 50 miles) from Walsall to Burton on Trent to see Derbyshire play Worcestershire in May 1953 at the Ind Coope & Allsopp ground. I can vaguely remember Don Kenyon making top score for Worcester in a game which Derby won by three wickets, but what sticks in the memory is that the two Derbyshire amateurs came out of a different gate, and presumably dressing room, from the professionals.
Derbyshire in all played 35 first class games at this ground between 1935 and 1980 by which time it had become the Allied Breweries ground. At that time it was decided to concentrate all cricket at Derby and Chesterfield. Sadly although the ground continues as a sports and social club no cricket is played there now.
A few years after my cycle journey I returned to Burton to play on the Town Ground, which also staged county cricket on a regular basis between 1914 and 1937. Along the track off Trent Bridge (another one) we passed the third venue to stage first class cricket in the town when both Oxford and Cambridge played Derbyshire on the Bass Worthington ground during the mid 1970s. Our club side from Walsall which played a Sunday friendly at the Town Ground was notable for the inclusion of one David Brown, fresh out of school and already being looked at by Warwickshire. He was of course to go on to captain the county and play for England. On this day however he failed to take a wicket whereas my gentle off spin managed two or three!
Time moves on and with the advent of the John Player Sunday League Derbyshire had the idea of playing some matches at different grounds in Staffordshire to obtain new supporters from a county which over the years had provided them with some very useful players. So it was that games were played in the seventies and eighties at Cheadle, Leek, Knypersley and Checkley. The first three had staged Minor Counties games for Staffordshire but Checkley only caught up during the 2017 season when I visited for the first time.
All these grounds have their attractions but obviously it was difficult getting sponsors despite some deals with local councils. The facilities were not really up to staging county games and the experiment was eventually abandoned following further improvements to the county ground at Derby.
Some of the information in this blog has been sourced from an admirable ACS publication 'Cricket Grounds of Derbyshire' by John Shawcroft, written in 2008. Unfortunately there is one mistake which shows a picture of Hartlepool's ground labelled as Knypersley. However I am able to rectify that with a picture of my own, which without doubt was taken at Knypersley during a visit by Cumberland.
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