Book Review: Best Of Enemies - the rivalry between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, and Derby County and Nottingham Forest by

Book Review: Best Of Enemies – the rivalry between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, and Derby County and Nottingham Forest by John Shawcroftnd Nottingham Forest.

Best of Enemies by John Shawcroft is a book review about the rivalry between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, as well as Derby County a

Nottingham Forest: Premier League 2023/24 fixtures and schedule | Football News | Sky Sports
Book Review: Best Of Enemies – the rivalry between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, and Derby County and Nottingham Forest by John Shawcroft
I was overjoyed when I was offered a review copy of John Shawcroft’s latest book.

After all, he is the dean of Derbyshire cricket writing. He began watching county matches in 1946, the same year that my late father began attending county matches. Dad had seen Derby County play during the war and became a lifetime supporter of both teams.

That passion was passed on to me after seeing the Rams in 1966, following England’s World Cup victory, and then the cricket club in the summer of 1967. As they say, the rest is history.

Book Review: Best Of Enemies – the rivalry between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, and Derby County and Nottingham Forest by John Shawcroft
I was born in Ripley, but my family relocated to Nottinghamshire in 1969 to be closer to Dad’s job at Bentinck Colliery. I was the sole Derby/Derbyshire fan at my school, so I am all too familiar with the rivalry that games between the sides engendered.

I’m not sure if people still do what John describes in this book, but many people would go to see Derby at the Baseball Ground one week and then go to the City Ground the following. Maybe not now, with travel so easy, but we did for a time before Dad realized my allegiance were split down the middle. As were his, but like a good father, he gave me the option.

John Shawcroft’s book is engaging, well-written and informative. For example, I had no idea that Derbyshire had attempted to sign Ted Alletson, he of the legendary 189 against Sussex at Hove in 1911. Nottinghamshire refused to release him, but his career ended with the First World War anyway.

I would have loved to have seen matches between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire in the decade before the Second World War. For the first time, Derbyshire were the stronger side, but matches were hard-fought, well-attended and largely attritional. No quarter asked for nor given, by two sides whose players were largely drawn from the county borders. Many of them played in the Bassetlaw League and worked alongside those watching in the winter months, a dark coal mine a poor substitute for a sunlit cricket ground.

The historic names from both clubs are part of my childhood learning curve. Tom Wass of Nottinghamshire lived in neighbouring Sutton-in-Ashfield, as did Tim Robinson later and many more in between and the area was a hotbed of cricketing talent and cricket clubs. I found it hard when I first moved to Scotland, travelling for upwards of an hour for fixtures, being used to fifteen minute, often less, journeys in the local leagues.

In more recent years, Nottinghamshire have dominated fixtures between the sides, as the financial gap between them has widened to disproportionate levels. Yet the fixtures are still eagerly anticipated and victory is still celebrated the same, bragging rights enjoyed by both sides.

I suppose the only people who wouldn’t enjoy this book are those who don’t follow one of the sports. But the tales of heroes in both red and white are equally stirring. My earliest memory of the fixture was 1969, when Forest came to Derby and won 2-0, largely thanks to a masterclass in defending from Terry Hennessey, who later would join the Rams, his career then sadly curtailed by injury.

The Clough and Taylor era naturally gets good coverage, even though Brian’s greatest feats were to be achieved at the ‘wrong end’ of the road…

As always, books published by the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians are done to a high standard. I especially enjoyed the generous font size and the ‘bite-sized’ chapters, which are well arranged in flitting between the two sports.

In short, it is a must read. Whichever side of the A52 you support, there is something for you in this engaging and thoroughly enjoyable book. Get it on your Christmas list, if you can wait that long.

Best of Enemies is written by John Shawcroft and published by ACS Publications.