Derbyshire players Matt Critchley, Ben Slater, Alex Hughes, Luis Reece and Jeevan Mendis have all been in action abroad in recent weeks. We catch up to see how they are getting on.
Fast bowler Hardus Viljoen and overseas spinner Imran Tahir have been representing Highveld Lions and Hollywoodbets Dolphins respectively in South Africa, but neither have had a fixture over the Christmas period.
As part of the ECB’s men’s International Pathway, leg-spinner Matt Critchley (pictured above) was awarded an Overseas Placement in Australia and is playing for Randwick-Petersham Cricket Club in the New South Wales Premier League.
In their most recent fixture versus North Sydney, Critchley produced the standout performance with the ball, claiming 2-22 of his eight overs to help restrict the hosts to 174-9 off 50 overs. Randwick chased down their total to win by eight wickets.
Alex Hughes and Ben Slater are currently out in Australia playing for Kingston Hawthorn in Victoria.
Hughes recently hit 76 off 139 balls, which included eight fours, against Fitzroy Doncaster in the Victorian Premier Cricket league.
Slater, meanwhile, has hit 368 runs for his new side, including one century and two half-centuries to date.
All-rounder Reece is featuring for Gosnells Cricket Club competing in Grade Cricket in Western Australia.
He recently appeared in a First Grade match against Claremont-Nedlands where he claimed figures of 1-26 and also hit 31, before being dismissed by Somerset all-rounder Jim Allenby.
In total Reece has taken 22 wickets, 18 of them in First-Grade and four within Premier T20, whilst scoring 217 runs during his time with the club.
Mendis, who has signed for Derbyshire for the first half of the 2017 campaign, is currently playing in Sri Lanka for Tamil Union.
The 33-year-old has been in fine form in first-class cricket, starring in the recent win over Chilaw Marians. He hit a superb 115 off 157 balls, which included six sixes, in the first innings before going on to claim eight wickets in the match with figures of 4-79 and 4-56.
He went on to claim eight in the match the following week, claiming 4-49 and 4-90 in the victory against Badureliya.
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