A match to remember

By Brian Sanderson

On the 9 January 2013 I wrote in the blog about Charlie Ollivierre  who in 1902  was the first West Indian to play for Derbyshire. I was looking through the Wisden magazines for 1980 and found
article on the Derbyshire v Essex match at Chesterfield from 18 July  to 20th 1904 in which Charlie played his greatest innings.

The match started in glorious sunshine with Essex winning the toss and batting. The first wicket fell quickly but F.L.Fane an Percy Perrin put on a stand of 120 in 70 minutes Percy batted all day to score 295 not out .Essex were bowled out  for 597 the next morning with Percy 343 not outHe hit 68 fours.

Derbyshire's  first target was to reach 448 to escape the follow on. Charlie opened the innings to put a opening stand of 191 in a hour and forty minutes. He settled down to play a magnificent innings scoring 229 and Derbyshire finished the day at 446 for 4. Next morning the innings finished on 548 and Essex had a lead of 49. In 45 minutes before lunch Essex collapsed to 27 for 6 with a lead of only 76.After lunch they were bowled out for 97 within two hours.This left Derbyshire 147 to win in 125 minutes. They swept to victory with 45 minutes to spare. Charlie, on his birthday, escored 92 in 80 minutes.

The greatest County Championship victory? Certainly a match to remember.