# Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1939

Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1939 was the last cricket season before World War II, when the English club Derbyshire had been playing for sixty-eight years. It was their forty first season in the County Championship and they won ten matches in the Championship, to finish ninth.

## 1939 season

Derbyshire played 28 matches in the County Championship, one against Oxford University and one against the touring West Indians. They won eleven matches altogether, ten in the County Championship. Robin Buckston was in his third season as captain. Denis Smith scored most runs and Bill Copson took most wickets.
Nearly all the players had been members of the 1936 championship winning team and the only player to make his debut was Cliff Gladwin whose low scores and failure to take a wicket gave little inkling that he would turn out to be Derbyshire's main wicket-taker in the years after World War II.

### Matches

List of matches :
| No. | Date | V | Result | Margin | Notes |
| 1 | 10 May 1939 | Oxford University The University Parks, Oxford | Won | 163 runs | W H Copson 5-12 and 5-9; Pether 5-7; A V Pope 5-30 |
| 2 | 13 May 1939 | Surrey Queen's Park, Chesterfield | Drawn | | Gregory 5-46; W H Copson 5-47 |
| 3 | 20 May 1939 | Northamptonshire County Ground, Derby | Won | 10 wickets | |
| 4 | 27 May 1939 | Warwickshire Edgbaston, Birmingham | Lost | 71 runs | Dollery 177; W H Copson 5-47; Hollies 6-48 and 5-79; T. B. Mitchell 5-112 |
| 5 | 31 May 1939 | Kent Rutland Recreation Ground, Ilkeston | Won | 5 wickets | W H Copson 5-39; |
| 6 | 03 Jun 1939 | Lancashire Old Trafford, Manchester | Lost | Innings and 105 runs | Paynter 222; Phillipson 5-38 |
| 7 | 07 Jun 1939 | Worcestershire Queen's Park, Chesterfield | Won | 315 runs | D Smith 123; A V Pope6-47 |
| 8 | 10 Jun 1939 | West Indies County Ground, Derby | Drawn | | W H Copson 6-73 |
| 9 | 14 Jun 1939 | Surrey Woodbridge Road, Guildford | Won | Innings and 43 runs | Parker 6-34; A V Pope 6-44; G H Pope 5-46 |
| 10 | 17 Jun 1939 | Lancashire Park Road Ground, Buxton | Drawn | | T S Worthington 101 |
| 11 | 21 Jun 1939 | Leicestershire Queen's Park, Chesterfield | Won | 9 wickets | H Smith 5-64; L F Townsend 5-45 |
| 12 | 24 Jun 1939 | Yorkshire Bramall Lane, Sheffield | Lost | 276 runs | Barber 100; G H Pope 6-44; Smurthwaite 5-7; Smailes 10-47 |
| 13 | 28 Jun 1939 | Sussex County Ground, Derby | Lost | 13 runs | T S Worthington 119; W H Copson 6-64; Duffield 5-38; Langridge 3-5 Langridge scored a hat-trick |
| 14 | 01 Jul 1939 | Essex Queen's Park, Chesterfield | Won | 10 wickets | W H Copson 6-57; Stephenson 6-41 |
| 15 | 08 Jul 1939 | Nottinghamshire Trent Bridge, Nottingham | Drawn | | T. B. Mitchell 5-70 |
| 16 | 12 Jul 1939 | Middlesex County Ground, Derby | Won | 6 wickets | W H Copson 7-39 |
| 17 | 15 Jul 1939 | Yorkshire Queen's Park, Chesterfield | Drawn | | |
| 18 | 19 Jul 1939 | Worcestershire Tipton Road, Dudley | Drawn | | D Smith 132 |
| 19 | 22 Jul 1939 | Somerset County Ground, Derby | Drawn | | Buse 5-76; G H Pope 5-59; T. B. Mitchell 5-66; Andrews 5-45 |
| 20 | 26 Jul 1939 | Middlesex Lord's Cricket Ground, St John's Wood | Lost | Innings and 24 runs | Denis Compton 214; Sims 8-32 and 5-128 |
| 21 | 29 Jul 1939 | Kent Bat and Ball Ground, Gravesend | Lost | 171 runs | Ames 159; Todd 106; Harding 5-56 |
| 22 | 02 Aug 1939 | Gloucestershire Queen's Park, Chesterfield | Drawn | | Scott 7-63; T. B. Mitchell 6-71 |
| 23 | 05 Aug 1939 | Warwickshire Ind Coope Ground, Burton-on-Trent | Drawn | | Grove 5-78 |
| 24 | 09 Aug 1939 | Northamptonshire County Ground, Northampton | Drawn | | Brookes 101; G H Pope 6-38 |
| 25 | 12 Aug 1939 | Essex Southchurch Park, Southend-on-Sea | Lost | Innings and 31 runs | Nichols 6-18 and 5-26; Farnes 5-52 |
| 26 | 16 Aug 1939 | Gloucestershire College Ground, Cheltenham | Won | 1 run | W H Copson 5-45;A V Pope 5-25; Lambert 6-69; T. B. Mitchell 5-75 |
| 27 | 19 Aug 1939 | Nottinghamshire Rutland Recreation Ground, Ilkeston | Won | 147 runs | G H Pope 121 |
| 28 | 23 Aug 1939 | Sussex The Saffrons, Eastbourne | Lost | Innings and 39 runs | T. B. Mitchell 8-149 Nye 5-49 |
| 29 | 26 Aug 1939 | Somerset County Ground, Taunton | Won | 7 wickets | A F Townsend 142; Buse 8-41 |
| 30 | 30 Aug 1939 | Leicestershire Aylestone Road, Leicester | Drawn | | Sperry 7-48; W H Copson 6-39 |

## Statistics
### County Championship batting averages

| Name | Matches | Inns | Runs | High score | Average | 100s |
| G H Pope | 28 | 46 | 1397 | 121 | 34.07 | 1 |
| D Smith | 28 | 51 | 1468 | 132 | 31.91 | 2 |
| T S Worthington | 24 | 40 | 1036 | 119 | 28.77 | 2 |
| A E Alderman | 28 | 48 | 1138 | 91 | 25.86 | 0 |
| A V Pope | 28 | 41 | 768 | 65 | 21.94 | |
| A F Townsend | 11 | 21 | 400 | 142* | 21.05 | 1 |
| L F Townsend | 22 | 33 | 647 | 92 | 20.87 | 0 |
| AEG Rhodes | 26 | 39 | 468 | 72 | 12.64 | 0 |
| TD Hounsfield | 13 | 19 | 179 | 36 | 11.18 | 0 |
| RHR Buckston | 17 | 27 | 236 | 33 | 10.26 | 0 |
| T R Armstrong | 2 | 10 | 8* | 10.00 | 0 |
| H Elliott | 25 | 36 | 244 | 25 | 9.76 | 0 |
| W H Copson | 26 | 34 | 206 | 26 | 7.92 | 0 |
| C Gladwin | 4 | 7 | 53 | 16 | 7.57 | 0 |
| T. B. Mitchell | 26 | 35 | 172 | 27 | 6.14 | 0 |

### County Championship bowling averages

| Name | Balls | Runs | Wickets | BB | Average |
| W H Copson | 4404 | 1856 | 109 | 7-39 | 17.02 |
| A V Pope | 4301 | 1734 | 86 | 6-44 | 20.16 |
| T. B. Mitchell | 2744 | 1728 | 80 | 8-149 | 21.60 |
| G H Pope | 3332 | 1474 | 78 | 6-38 | 18.89 |
| AEG Rhodes | 976 | 477 | 25 | 3-14 | 19.08 |
| L F Townsend | 580 | 245 | 8 | 5-45 | 30.62 |
| D Smith | 24 | 10 | 1 | 1-10 | 10.00 |
| T R Armstrong | 88 | 54 | 0 |
| C Gladwin | 144 | 78 | 0 |

## Wicket Keeper

* Harry Elliott Catches 48, Stumping 11
* Albert Alderman Catches 17, Stumping 1