Queen’s Park

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.

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.

(source .. wikipedia) reproduced under GFDL

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Derbyshire County Cricket Club
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