For the last time in 2026, County Championship cricket will take place at the cinch County Ground as Northamptonshire take on Derbyshire.
The match will play a crucial part in the race for promotion as Northamptonshire currently sit two points ahead of Kent with two games remaining.
Darren Lehmann’s side come into this game on the back of a three-day victory over Worcestershire at New Road in which Saif Zaib hit a century and Luke Procter took a five-for.
It went right down to the wire for Derbyshire in their fixture versus Kent but with only a couple overs left in the match Brett Randell was able to take the final wicket of Hasan Mahmud to clinch victory.
Match information:
The toss is scheduled to take place at 10am, with play to then commence at 10:30am.
A live stream will be available to watch on YouTube on Steelbacks TV, and you can follow all of the action with live match updates on our social media channels.
For all Northamptonshire Season Ticket Holders and members, there is 20% off all items in the Club Shop.
Nuts For Your Coffee will be at the ground for all four days. The Mushtaq Mohammad will be open and serving food and drink.
Squad news:
Darren Lehmann has named a 13-man squad for tomorrow’s clash versus Derbyshire.
Gus Miller comes into the squad as Yuzi Chahal has to miss out due to prior commitments. The Indian leg spinner will be back next week for our final game of the season.
Northamptonshire squad to face Derbyshire:
Luke Procter (c), George Bartlett, Harry Conway, Liam Guthrie, Calvin Harrison, Louis Kimber, Lewis McManus (wk), Gus Miller, Stuart van der Merwe, James Sales, Ben Sanderson, Ricardo Vasconcelos, Saif Zaib.
We caught up with Darren Lehmann to discuss the final home game of the season, the Division Two table and facing Mohammad Abbas.
Last time we met:
It was a comprehensive victory for Derbyshire the last time the two sides met in this season’s County Championship.
The home side had won the toss and elected to bat, a decision which proved correct as Martin Andersson and Brooke Guest combined for a 241-run partnership as Derbyshire eventually declared on a scored of 604 for seven.
Despite a century from Calvin Harrison, Northamptonshire were bowled out for 228 and 263 which confirmed an innings defeat.
Opposition preview:
Captain: Wayne Madsen
Head coach: Mickey Arthur
2025 finish: 3rd
2025 highest run-scorer: Wayne Madsen (1,158)
2025 highest wicket-taker: Luis Reece (50)
Whilst mathematically still in with a chance, any hope of promotion to the top division is now over for Derbyshire, who have had a mixed season with four wins, six defeats and two draws.
Their two September fixtures sum that up perfectly as they collapsed to a final day defeat against bottom side Gloucestershire before securing a 181-run victory over promotion hopefuls Kent last time out.
Andersson who scored 106 in that game in May, has the most runs in the County Championship for Derbyshire this season with 800 at an average of 44.44 and with a top score of 228 against Worcestershire in the opening round.
Ben Aitchison has been a constant threat for Derbyshire throughout the season and has taken 57 wickets, only one away from Matthew Potts who leads the whole division.
Derbyshire will be bolstered by the return of Mohammad Abbas after he took 13 wickets for Pakistan in their tour of England.