Captain Gary Wilson heaped praise on his team for their record-breaking NatWest T20 Blast campaign and admitted it has left the squad eager to rise to the challenge and go one step further.
The Ireland international led the Falcons to only a second domestic Twenty20 quarter-final in 15 seasons, at the end of a campaign which saw a number of Club records broken.
However, Hampshire were the victors in the knockout match in front of 4,000 spectators at The 3aaa County Ground, a result that was disappointing for the Falcons Captain.
Wilson said: “To go out one step before finals day of course it’s disappointing. We all desperately wanted to get over the line and get down to Birmingham. In no way do we accept that a quarter-final is good enough, we’ll come back next year.
“We won’t worry too much about the way we’ve lost this game, when a team gets towards 250 against you, you can only go out and play one way and unfortunately you run the risk of losing early wickets and then you’re out of the game.”
Alongside Specialist Twenty20 Coach John Wright and bowling coach for the campaign Dominic Cork, the former Surrey man was in charge of a Falcons team which claimed a Club-record eight wins from 15 matches and amassed a record points tally and highest table finish.
Wayne Madsen starred with both bat and ball for Derbyshire, hitting 526 runs and taking 13 wickets, including a career-best 86 not out against Notts Outlaws. He was joined in a reliable middle-order by Luis Reece, who himself crashed a career-best unbeaten 97 on his way to notching 433 runs, the first occasion two Derbyshire batsmen have each hit four half-centuries in one Twenty20 campaign.
Imran Tahir came in as the Club’s overseas signing for the competition alongside New Zealand fast bowler, Matt Henry. The leg spinner had a prolific tournament, taking 17 wickets in the group stage, more than any other Falcons bowler in Twenty20 cricket.
Henry and fellow paceman Hardus Viljoen were also among the wickets, taking 15 and 14 respectively in a campaign that saw vast improvements across the Derbyshire Falcons lineup which culminated in earning a maiden home quarter-final tie in the format.
Wilson added: “I’m really excited about the brand of cricket we’ve played all competition. We were sat in the dugouts and I heard a supporter behind say it’s the most he’s enjoyed watching Derbyshire play county cricket in the last five years. Whilst that’s no consolation on a bitterly disappointing night, it proves that we have played a good brand of cricket and I am glad the supporters have seen that.
“There has been a bit of a drought in this format for the Club, but going forward I think there’s things to learn from but it is an exciting time and the challenge will be to back up the performances in the group stage and go one step further.”
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