Graeme Welch believes the younger lads have deserved their chance ahead of the Specsavers County Championship fixture at Essex, starting on Sunday.
Cricket Derbyshire Academy in partnership with the University of Derby graduates Ben Cotton, Matt Critchley and Tom Taylor, plus Tom Milnes, have been added to the squad from the side that drew to Sussex last time out.
Welch said: “We put out the most experienced team we could at the start of the season and I think that was the right thing to do but now it’s time for some of the younger lads to show us what they’ve got.
“They deserve their chance, these lads, because they have done exactly what we asked of them in training and in the Second XI.
“It’s been a tough start for the bowlers, having to bowl on some very flat decks, and we always knew it was going to be a hard first four or five weeks.
“We have a squad of bowlers and it was always the plan to use them.”
Essex Head Coach, Chris Silverwood, says their swashbuckling start to the season, with the county 10 points clear at the top of Division Two, has given him the tricky task of picking from a squad in which every member has made a contribution.
Even the loss of Alistair Cook to Test duties will be overcome by the return to the side of Jaik Mickleburgh to partner Nick Browne for the first wicket. Mickleburgh added his third century of the season in only his third innings with 109 against Sri Lanka during the week.
Silverwood said: “Having Alistair around has got us off to a great start with his 500 runs. He’s been useful at the top of the order to say the least.
“But the other guys have shown that they can get the runs as well, so hopefully they’ll carry that forward with confidence and pick up where they left off when we play Derbyshire.
“We’ll concentrate on what we do well and the processes that we’ve put in place. We don’t want to get too far in front of ourselves. We’ve had a great start to the year and we’re all really pleased where we’re at.”
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