# Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1931

Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1931 represents the cricket season when the English club Derbyshire had been playing for sixty years. It was their thirty-third season in the County Championship and they won seven matches to finish seventh.

## 1931 season

Derbyshire were fortunate in persuading A. W. Richardson to become captain in 1931. Building on the efforts of Guy Jackson and with the help of the coach, Sam Cadman, Richardson set about building the team that became a match-winning combination and took the championship in 1936.
Derbyshire played 28 games in the County Championship, and one match against the touring New Zealanders. Denis Smith was top scorer with two centuries. Veteran Archibald Slater, in his last season, took 106 wickets closely followed by Tommy Mitchell on 105.
The only new arrival in the Derbyshire side in 1931 was Alan Skinner who was to see many years service with the club.

### Matches

List of matches :
| No. | Date | V | Result | Margin | Notes |
| 1 | 2 May 1931 | Leicestershire County Ground, Derby | Drawn | | |
| 2 | 6 May 1931 | Gloucestershire The Victoria Ground, Cheltenham | Lost | 4 wickets | Parker 6–41 and 8–50 |
| 3 | 9 May 1931 | Surrey Kennington Oval | Drawn | | A E Alderman 113; Fender 100 |
| 4 | 16 May 1931 | Kent County Ground, Derby | Lost | 9 wickets | Freeman 5–63; AG Slater 8–63 |
| 5 | 20 May 1931 | Essex County Ground, Leyton | Drawn | | D Smith 131; GM Lee 147 |
| 6 | 23 May 1931 | Warwickshire Edgbaston, Birmingham | Drawn | | Croom 103; Paine 6–80 |
| 7 | 27 May 1931 | Worcestershire County Ground, New Road, Worcester | Drawn | | |
| 8 | 30 May 1931 | Sussex Queen's Park, Chesterfield | Won | Innings and 188 runs | T. B. Mitchell 6–11 and 6–19 |
| 9 | 6 Jun 1931 | Nottinghamshire Rutland Recreation Ground, Ilkeston | Drawn | | L F Townsend 6–59 |
| 10 | 13 Jun 1931 | New Zealand County Ground, Derby | Drawn | | Not a County Championship match T. B. Mitchell 5–97 |
| 11 | 17 Jun 1931 | Essex Rutland Recreation Ground, Ilkeston | Drawn | | AG Slater 8–51 |
| 12 | 20 Jun 1931 | Hampshire Queen's Park, Chesterfield | Won | 8 wickets | D Smith 108; T. B. Mitchell 5–47 |
| 13 | 24 Jun 1931 | Glamorgan Cardiff Arms Park | Drawn | | |
| 14 | 27 Jun 1931 | Worcestershire County Ground, Derby | Won | 7 wickets | Gibbons 109; Root 5–113; H Storer 5–32 |
| 15 | 1 Jul 1931 | Surrey Queen's Park, Chesterfield | Drawn | | T. B. Mitchell 6–157; Fender 6–102 |
| 16 | 4 Jul 1931 | Leicestershire Bath Grounds, Ashby-de-la-Zouch | Drawn | | AG Slater 5–28 |
| 17 | 8 Jul 1931 | Sussex County Ground, Hove | Lost | Innings and 14 runs | Wensley 6–47 and 6–48; T S Worthington 5–80 |
| 18 | 11 Jul 1931 | Hampshire County Ground, Southampton | Won | 145 runs | Baring 5–85; L F Townsend 6–23; |
| 19 | 18 Jul 1931 | Gloucestershire Queen's Park, Chesterfield | Lost | 18 runs | T. B. Mitchell 6–79; Goddard 8–79; Parker 6–64 |
| 20 | 22 Jul 1931 | Northamptonshire County Ground, Derby | Won | 6 wickets | GM Lee 173; Timms 147; T. B. Mitchell 5–39 |
| 21 | 25 Jul 1931 | Middlesex Rutland Recreation Ground, Ilkeston | Drawn | | Peebles 5–58; AG Slater 5–32 |
| 22 | 29 Jul 1931 | Lancashire Park Road Ground, Buxton | Drawn | | L F Townsend 6–49; Hopwood 5–52 |
| 23 | 1 Aug 1931 | Warwickshire County Ground, Derby | Lost | 9 wickets | Partridge 5–47; Paine 5–67 |
| 24 | 5 Aug 1931 | Kent St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury | Drawn | | L F Townsend 5–78; Freeman 5–77; Marriott 5–42 |
| 25 | 8 Aug 1931 | Nottinghamshire Trent Bridge, Nottingham | Drawn | | |
| 26 | 15 Aug 1931 | Northamptonshire County Ground, Northampton | Won | Innings and 71 runs | GM Lee 141; L F Townsend 8–45; |
| 27 | 19 Aug 1931 | Middlesex Lord's Cricket Ground, St John's Wood | No play | | Match abandoned |
| 28 | 22 Aug 1931 | Glamorgan Queen's Park, Chesterfield | Won | 184 runs | Ryan 7–105; AG Slater 5–27; Mercer 5–37; |
| 29 | 26 Aug 1931 | Lancashire Stanley Park, Blackpool | Lost | 3 wickets | AG Slater 5–22; Tyldesley 6–21 |

## Statistics
### County Championship batting averages

| Name | Matches | Inns | Runs | High score | Average | 100s |
| GM Lee | 26 | 39 | 1152 | 173 | 32.91 | 3 |
| H Storer | 22 | 35 | 1028 | 115* | 32.12 | 1 |
| D Smith | 27 | 43 | 1214 | 131 | 31.12 | 2 |
| A E Alderman | 27 | 40 | 895 | 113* | 27.96 | 1 |
| GR Jackson | 7 | 11 | 270 | 81 | 24.54 | 0 |
| L F Townsend | 25 | 33 | 673 | 80* | 21.70 | 0 |
| T S Worthington | 27 | 37 | 589 | 45 | 19.00 | 0 |
| A V Pope | 2 | 3 | 36 | 16 | 18.00 | 0 |
| JM Hutchinson | 9 | 14 | 218 | 71 | 16.76 | 0 |
| AG Slater | 27 | 35 | 483 | 52 | 15.58 | 0 |
| A W Richardson | 26 | 32 | 374 | 49 | 13.35 | 0 |
| T. B. Mitchell | 27 | 28 | 182 | 29 | 10.70 | 0 |
| H Elliott | 27 | 32 | 264 | 37 | 9.77 | 0 |
| NM Ford | 2 | 4 | 26 | 24 | 6.50 | 0 |
| CC Clarke | 4 | 6 | 36 | 21 | 6.00 | 0 |
| JDH Gilbert | 5 | 3 | 12 | 6 | 4.00 | 0 |
| A F Skinner | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4.00 | 0 |
| T R Armstrong | 6 | 8 | 18 | 15 | 3.00 | 0 |

### County Championship bowling averages

| Name | Balls | Runs | Wickets | BB | Average |
| AG Slater | 5526 | 1714 | 106 | 8–51 | 16.16 |
| T. B. Mitchell | 5525 | 2218 | 105 | 6–11 | 21.12 |
| L F Townsend | 3072 | 1098 | 72 | 8–45 | 15.25 |
| T S Worthington | 3882 | 1362 | 57 | 5–80 | 23.89 |
| H Storer | 958 | 408 | 16 | 5–32 | 25.50 |
| GM Lee | 922 | 347 | 14 | 4–34 | 24.78 |
| T R Armstrong | 335 | 85 | 7 | 2–9 | 12.14 |
| A V Pope | 342 | 114 | 6 | 4–54 | 19.00 |
| D Smith | 156 | 42 | 0 |
| A E Alderman | 24 | 10 | 0 |
| GR Jackson | 17 | 20 | 0 |
| A W Richardson | 12 | 6 | 0 |

## Wicket-keeper

H Elliott Catches 43 Stumping 28