Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1919
| 1919 season | |||
| Captain | Richard Baggallay | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| County Championship | 9 | ||
| Most runs | Leonard Oliver | ||
| Most wickets | Billy Bestwick | ||
| Most catches | George Beet | ||
|
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Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1919 was the first cricket season after a four-year break from first class cricket during World War I. The English club Derbyshire had been playing for forty-eight years. It was their twenty first season in the County Championship and they won three matches in the County Championship to come ninth.
After the First World War, county cricket resumed in 1919 but everyone connected with the game had to put in much effort to create a very basic competition. Matches were restricted to two days to begin with, but the experiment was not repeated. Derbyshire played 14 matches in the County Championship and one against the Australian Imperial Forces. Derbyshire struggled to create a team, drawing in several youngsters, and also calling upon players who had last represented the club years previously. As a result, they managed three wins in the County Championship and four matches altogether - their particular accomplishment was to defeat the Australian Imperial Forces XI, Derbyshire being the only county side to do so.
Richard Baggallay had been the last captain before the war and he led the team in the resumption of the game although he only played in three matches. John Chapman was the most frequent substitute. Leonard Oliver was top scorer and Billy Bestwick took most wickets with 89. Bestwick had made his debut for Derbyshire in 1898; he had not played for them since 1909 and had a reputation for unreliability on account of taste for beer. He was brought back into the team in 1919 at the age of 43, with Arthur Morton as his minder. Although it was thought he would be past first-class cricket his capability surprised everybody. The 36 runs victory over the Australians was achieved without Bestwick, who, was making his first appearance for the Players against the Gentlemen at Lord's. James Horsley managed a hat-trick, and with Arthur Morton shared nineteen wickets in the two Australian innings. George Beet stepped in behind the stumps, bridging the gap between the stalwarts Joe Humphries and Harry Elliott.
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