It was their twenty-third season in the County Championship and they won five matches to finish twelfth.
After the appalling results of 1920, George Buckston returned as captain at the age of 40 with the firm purpose of reviving a dispirited eleven.
Derbyshire CCC played twenty games in the County Championship in 1921 and won five, to finish twelfth in the table.
W T Taylor wrote of Buckston that "Only those who played under him knew how much the team owed to the skipper for his example, cheerfulness and leadership".
[1] Billy Bestwick was fourth in the national first-class bowling averages with 147 wickets for less than 17 runs each.