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 1939 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. 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