The County Ground, Derby, was initially used as a racecourse but has hosted Derbyshire County Cricket Club matches throughout the club's history since its formation in 1870.

The first ever recorded cricket match at the ground was a two day game between South Derbyshire and Australian Aboriginals on 2nd and 3rd of September 1868.

Runs were at a premium as South Derbyshire won by 139 runs despite making scores of just 121 and 125. The visitors were bowled out for 76 and 31.

The venue was also home to Derby County Football Club until their move to the Baseball Ground in 1895 and it in fact hosted the first ever FA Cup Final to be played outside of London: a replay between Blackburn Rovers and West Bromwich Albion in 1886.

A solitary England football international was played on the ground in March 1895 with England thrashing Ireland 9-0 and, far more recently, the ground has twice played host to one-day international cricket.

Sri Lanka beat New Zealand by three wickets in a World Cup group match in 1983 and, when the tournament returned to UK shores and to the County Ground in 1999, eventual finalists Pakistan won an entertaining match 62 runs.

Permanent floodlights were installed at the County Ground in July 2004.

The highest team total at the ground is currently the 661 all out amassed by Nottinghamshire in 1901 and the lowest Derbyshire's 26 all out against Yorkshire in 1880.

The largest first-class partnership in the history of the ground came in 1997 when Kim Barnett and Tim Tweats put on 417 for the second wicket against Yorkshire.

New Zealand's 369-6 against Derbyshire in 1999 (50 overs) remains the highest List A total at the ground: the lowest being Sussex's 61 all out against Derbyshire in 1978.

273 is the highest individual first-class score made on the ground to date: a record that is shared by Nottinghamshire's Billy Gunn (1901) and Ernie Hayes of Surrey (1904).

Middlesex's Richard Johnson remains the only player to have ever taken the full 10 wickets in an innings on the ground. He did so in 1994 as his 10-45 earned victory for the London County by an innings and 96 runs.

Michael Di Venuto's 173 not out against Derbyshire Cricket Board in a NatWest Trophy tie in 2000 is the highest individual score to be made on the ground in one-day cricket while Simon Francis, of Somerset, famously took 8-66 against Derbyshire in the 2004 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy.