Hurray for Chesterfield!

Cricket is back at Chesterfield - and everyone should celebrate

There are few better places in the world to watch the game than Queens Park at Chesterfield.
You are close to the action, there's a good view from everywhere, it is set in the loveliest of parks, with a boating lake and miniature railway nearby and the wicket is normally good for batsmen.
That Derbyshire chose to move back there for fixtures after a number of years was perhaps THE highlight of 2007. Admittedly the local Council did a lot of improvement work on the ground, including the pavilion and the amenities. To be fair, the latter needed improved as they brought a whole new dimension to the term spartan. Two toilets in a ground of any size is not exactly generous, and to paraphrase the old Paul Young song, wherever you laid your butt, it wouldn't have been your home in the gents at Queens Park. More often than not there was no toilet seat anyway.
There's little better than standing on the mound there, looking across to the scoreboard and seeing the famous old crooked spire peeking over the trees. What sights it has seen over the years! Perrin's match in 1904 when Charles Olivierre scored a double hundred and Derbyshire still won on the last day. How many people have scored a triple century and been on the losing side?
Countless battles against Yorkshire, including the day when Yorkshire fans were delayed in their travel and derided the locals for Derbyshire's slow scoring at lunchtime, not realising that their heroes had already been skittled by George Pope. One of my Dad's favourite memories is watching Derbyshire play Sussex just after the war. The latter had an amateur batsman called PBS Blake who wore a number of sweaters. Despite struggling to lay a bat on George Pope he was removing one every over, until the umpire was buried beneath them.
Finally George got the right spot and bowled Blake neck and crop. Walking up to him, George apparently told him to "Bugger off and tek all yer sweaters with yer", laughing as he made his way back to the pavilion.
Jackson and Gladwin skittling Middlesex for 23, Derbyshire beating Sussex in the 1969 Gillette Cup semi-final, Ian Bishop having a 17-year old Sachin Tendulkar in all sorts of bother before the latter hit him for miles over the scoreboard to effectively seal a close game. The place is idyllic for cricket watching and holds countless memories for me.
Some of these I'll share in more detail in the fullness of time, but for now I'll close my eyes and imagine once more I'm sat at the side of the sightscreen at the Lake End. OUR spot, where a duck once flew from to accompany Charlie Lee after a golden duck on his way back to the pavilion.
I'll be there again this season, all being well, and hope that Rikki, Chris, Greg and co find the range that was once the preserve of Chris Wilkins and endanger the ducks as they meander around the lake.
Happy Days!