County cricket being played in 1709, though an official County Championship was not instituted until 1890. Having already been badly hit by the Seven Years' War, county cricket ceased altogether during the Napoleonic Wars and there was a period from 1797 to 1824 during which no inter-county matches took place. Inter-county cricket was popular throughout the 18th century, although the best team, such as Kent in the 1740s or Hampshire in the days of the famous Hambledon Club, was usually acknowledged as such by being matched against All-England. The most successful county teams were Hampshire, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey and Sussex. There was,
Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1971 Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1971 Derbyshire County Cricket Club in 1971 was the centenary cricket season of the English club Derbyshire which had first played in 1871. In the County Championship, they won one match to finish seventeenth in their seventy-seventh season in the Championship. They won seven matches in the John Player League to finish eleventh. They were eliminated in Round 2 of the Gillette Cup. Derbyshire played 24 games in the County Championship, one match against Oxford University and one match against the touring Pakistanis. They won one match overall and managed 19 draws in the County