With the 2003 season only just written into the history books the Derbyshire County Cricket League have released details and fixtures for the 2004 season.

The firsts poor finish to the season meant that barring a major shakeup they would be in 3 North for 2004 and this has proved to be the case. As it happens the only team to gain promotion from 3 North were champions Matlock with 3 South champions Swarkestone and 3 South runners up Quarndon 2nds joining them. As expected Selston 1sts who had finished in the relegation places in Division 1 were relegated an extra division to 3 North due to them not having a junior setup as required by the league rules. There had been talk that this would lead to both Division 3 runners up being promoted but this hasn't been the case with the league opting not to relegate Allestree from Division 2 instead meaning 3 North runners up Darley Abbey will stay in 3 North.

As for the seconds their poor season meant relegation to 6 North was almost certain well before the end of the season and they haven't been affected that much by teams getting relegated extra divisions etc. However with them due to compete against a number of 3rd and 4th teams in that division their season could be disrupted by rearranged fixtures meaning some blank Saturdays and a number of Sunday fixtures.

Since the start of last season there have been a number of resignations from the league. Before the start of the 2003 season Langley Mill 2nds and Trowell were forced to withdraw. Since then they have been joined by Selston 2nds, Old Derbians 2nds and, in probably the biggest news since the end of the 2003 season, Stapleford 1st and 2nds. After a number of rumours it has been confirmed that a number of Stapleford players have moved en masse to Heanor Town despite Stapleford 1sts gaining promotion to 3 North. It seems both clubs have been struggling over the last few years and the move is seen as a way of keeping one club going rather than both clubs going to the wall. The influx of players has allowed Heanor, although past the deadline, to re-enter their 2nd team into the league which means that 4 teams will now be sharing the Town Ground at Heanor meaning a number of games will have to be rearranged which may include Clay Cross 2nds away game against Shipley Hall 3rds but we will wait and see.

Heanor 2nds are just one of 12 new teams entered for next season. The majority of these are extensions of clubs current setups with the introduction of 3rd and 4th teams. These include Chesterfield who will make use of the new facilities available at Brookfield School since it became a specialist sports college to field a 3rd team. The others following this route are Alfreton (3rd Team), Riddings (3rd Team), Duffield (3rd Team), Rolleston (3rd Team), Sandiacre (4th Team) and Wirksworth (4th Team). Langley Mill have suffered in a similar vein to Heanor in recent years being forced to fold their Premier League team before last season, however after some hard work there they have been able to reintroduce their second team after only one season. The final 3 teams to make up the 12 will come from former Burton and District League club Tutbury who successfully applied to join the DCCL during the 2003 season and the new season will see them fielding 3 teams spread across the southern sections of the lower divisions. Their first team finished runners up last season in the top division of the Burton league and they have been placed in 3 South meaning they are in the same cup competition as the Clay Cross 1st team.

The final make up for the divisions from Premier League down to Division 7 are as follows :-

(P) - Promoted Teams, (R) - Relegated Teams, (N) - New Teams

Now that the divisions have been sorted the league has been able to produce fixtures although this is prior to clubs having the chance to rearrange fixtures for one reason or another. Below are the lists prior to any changes being made and they will be added to the site once they are finalised.