All Derbyshire's matches were first class in the 1876 season. They played six county games, two each against Lancashire, Kent and Hampshire, and one match against MCC. Derbyshire lost both games against Lancashire, but were honours even with Kent and Hampshire, and beat MCC at Lords. The captain for the year was Robert Smith. The side was well established but had three newcomers. Frederick Keeton, a licensed victualler, played the first of several seasons for Derbyshire and Amos Hind a framework knitter, also made his debut, to play one more season in 1877. Frederick Thornhill, a railway worker, played a single match for the club in June, but a month later on 23 July 1876 died at Toton Sidings, the largest marshalling yards of the Midland Railway. Three players who took part in Derbyshire's first match played their last season for Derbyshire, each appearing in one game. These were Unwin Sowter, John Burnham and John Tilson. In the first match against Lancashire, Lancashire made 163 in their first innings, and Derbyshire replied with 60. They had to follow on, and achieving 78 in the second innings, lost by an innings. In the second match, their first against Hampshire Derbyshire scored 179 in the first innings and Hampshire made 98 in response and had to follow-on. Hampshire scored 156 in the second innings and Derbyshire made the necessary 80 with 8 wickets in hand. Against MCC Derbyshire opened with 229 with a contribution of 77 from Hind. MCC replied with 104 and managed 76 in the follow-on to give Derbyshire an innings victory. Against Kent, Derbyshire scored 107 in the first innings and Kent replied with 121. Derbyshire's second innings score of 170 set a target Kent could not achieve and they finished on 113 to give Derbyshire 43 run victory. In the second match against Lancashire, Derbyshire replied with 63 to Lancashire's 111. In the second innings Lancashire made 172 and Derbyshire ended the second innings 95 runs behind on 125. In the second match against Kent, Derbyshire made 147 in the first innings and Kent made 145. In the second innings Derbyshire made 112, and Kent were able to make the necessary 116 to win the match with two wickets in hand. In the last match against Hampshire, Derbyshire opened with 115 and Hampshire made 63 in reply. In the second innings Derbyshire made 91, but Hampshire went on to make 145 to win with one wicket in hand. Mycroft achieved a record match analysis of 17 wickets for 103 runs against Hampshire in the match. John Platts was top scorer and William Mycroft took most wickets.
Matches
Statistics
Cricketers who played and their first-class batting performances
