Derbyshire return to action for the first time in almost two weeks as they travel down to Lord’s to face Middlesex in the Rothesay County Championship.
Mickey Arthur’s side currently sit third in Division Two of the competition, just three points ahead of this week’s hosts, and head into the fixture off the back of an extremely disappointing Metro Bank One Day Cup campaign which produced just one win.
Captain Wayne Madsen will return after his stint in The Hundred and could hand first-class debuts to Amrit Basra and Rory Haydon, who have both signed multi-year deals in recent weeks.
Last match
The county’s last game came on 26 August when they hosted Essex in their final group stage match of the One Day Cup.
With their chance of qualifying for the knockout rounds already over, the Falcons’ only motivation was picking up their second win of the 50-over campaign.
Ben Aitchison made an early breakthrough by dismissing former Derbyshire man Matt Critchley for two but from then on it was a long day in the field.
Essex captain Tom Westley compiled an innings of 118 from 110 balls and was supported by half-centuries from youngsters Charlie Allison and Luc Benkenstein, with the latter scoring an explosive 74 off 48 balls.
Aitchison and fellow fast bowler Zak Chappell ended with two wickets each but the Falcons’ three spinners returned figures of 1/157 from 20 overs as the visitors racked up 366/6.
Despite the big target to chase, Derbyshire’s top-order got them into a brilliant position at 243/1 with centuries for Harry Came and Matt Montgomery, needing 124 from 101 balls.
However, the middle-order collapsed as the hosts lost seven wickets for 50 runs and were eventually bowled out for 322 with Martin Andersson absent hurt.
The result left the Falcons with just eight points from their eight matches in the competition, 16 points behind third-placed Gloucestershire.
Their last red-ball game was at Northampton at the start of August, in which the poor day four conditions helped them hold on for a draw after stumbling at 54/5 in their second innings.
Andersson’s first-innings 105 helped them up to 377 before the hosts racked up 550/9 in reply before declaring, with off-spinner Joe Hawkins taking two wickets on his debut for the county.
When the youngster became the fifth man out at the end of day three, Derbyshire fans may have feared that they would collapse to defeat with a deficit of 119 still standing, but fifties from Luis Reece and Brooke Guest saved them on the final day.
Their 13 points from the match took them up to 141 after two wins, seven draws and two defeats, trailing Glamorgan, who occupy the second promotion spot, 24 points.
Derbyshire team news
Captain Madsen is set to play his 500th game for the county and will be joined by Aneurin Donald in returning from Hundred action.
All-rounder Luis Reece has returned from injury and will hope to hold his position as Division Two’s leading wicket-taker, while Basra and Haydon could both play their maiden first-class games for the county.
Jewell will play his last game before returning to Australia ahead of Tasmania’s season but he has already penned a deal to come back to the Central Co-op County Ground in 2026.
Alex Thomson, Mitch Wagstaff, David Lloyd and Harry Moore were all ruled out of the One Day Cup with injury and remain sidelined, with Moore’s season already confirmed to be over.
Opposition news
Middlesex head into the four-day game just one place and three points behind Derbyshire and will be looking to overtake them by Thursday.
They qualified from Group B of the One Day Cup in third place after six wins in eight but were defeated by a Liam Dawson-inspired Hampshire in their quarter-final.
Their last red-ball game came at Cheltenham over a month ago as rain meant that over a day’s play was lost and just 19 wickets fell between them and Gloucestershire.
The travelling side batted first and were carried by former New Zealand captain Kane Williamson’s 153 as they reached 445 all out.
A maiden first-class century from Joe Phillips then defied them along with the weather as the hosts ended the game 404/9, with Noah Cornwell, Luke Hollman, Ryan Higgins and Josh de Caires all took two wickets.
Ahead of their game against Derbyshire, they have announced the signing of England paceman Olly Stone on loan for two matches.
He joins an attack headed by all-rounder Ryan Higgins, whose 35 wickets this season are only beaten by Reece’s 37.
Batter Max Holden is approaching on 1,000 runs for the year and sits seventh in Division Two on 898 with three hundreds.
Their squad also contains Pakistan spinner Zafar Gohar, capped twice by his country, and former England duo Sam Robson and Toby Roland-Jones, who have played 11 Tests between them.
However, much to the delight of Derbyshire’s bowling attack, Holden and Williamson have not been included in the hosts’ squad due to fitness issues.
Previous encounter
The first meeting between the sides this season produced a draw in Derby at the end of April.
The hosts batted first and made 472 thanks to a hundred from Martin Andersson and 93 from David Lloyd and they took a first-innings lead of 157 after bowling Middlesex out for 315, with Zak Chappell taking four wickets.
After being forced to follow-on, the visitors batted again but managed to salvage a draw with fifties from Stevie Eskinazi, Holden and Gohar as spinners Jack Morley and Alex Thomson toiled away for over 60 overs between them.
Derbyshire (472) v Middlesex (315 & 307/7), 25-28 April 2025:
Derbyshire team: Caleb Jewell, David Lloyd, Harry Came, Wayne Madsen (C), Brooke Guest (WK), Luis Reece, Martin Andersson, Alex Thomson, Zak Chappell, Blair Tickner, Jack Morley
Familiar faces
Two former Derbyshire players could take to the field for Middlesex at Lord’s on Monday – Leus du Plooy and Henry Brookes.
Du Plooy spent five seasons in Derby between 2019 and 2023 and captained the side in his final year.
The Hungarian-South African batter scored 5,304 runs across all formats for the county and hit 10 hundreds and 28 fifties.
He signed a five-year deal with Middlesex from the start of the 2024 season and was appointed club captain in July of this year.
In contrast, Brookes played just twice for the county on loan from Warwickshire in 2023, taking nine wickets, including 6/20 on debut against Leicestershire.
Match details
Middlesex v Derbyshire
County Championship Division Two
Monday 8 September – Thursday 11 September
10:30 am start time
Lord’s, London
