Kim Barnett says there are four slots he is aiming to fill as he continues a busy winter of recruitment looking ahead to the 2018 season.
With Ravi Rampaul already committed to the Club for the start of the 2018 campaign, Barnett wants to further bolster the seam bowling attack, whilst providing options for the T20 competition as Derbyshire aim to go one stage further and reach Finals Day.
He said: “We’ve got a strategy for what we want to do in the winter and the slots are still the same. There’s the Jeevan Mendis spot for the first three months of the season and we feel we are going to go for a seam bowler for that.
“Hopefully we are going to get John Wright back for the T20 competition and we’re looking into the Imran [Tahir] situation.
“Those are ongoing and obviously there is a Matt Henry slot for the second T20 overseas place, so those are the four items I’m looking at from a strategy point of view to hopefully improve on last season.”
“We know who we’re after and we need to deal with them one at a time.”
The signing of Rampaul adds to the experience in the Derbyshire bowling attack and is a sign of the Club’s intent to target all formats, something Barnett believes is necessary to improve.
Barnett added: “We needed that senior bowler and I think John [Wright] in particular wanted that experience, especially when bowling at the end, which was an issue for us during the Twenty20 campaign.
“There was improvement in 2017, but I would expect the squad to challenge in the 50-over competition. John [Wright] will be expecting to get to T20 Finals Day, that’s what John is like and Dominic [Cork] is the same.
“In terms of the four-day format, we won three but we need to win some matches at home. If we do that and win five, six or seven matches then we’ll be competing.
“Those have got to be the aims, you cannot back off and say that it’s going to be the same, it’s got to go onwards and upwards.”
Price freeze for 2018. Club Membership will once again offer one great value price for all in 2018. Join today for only £139, if purchased before 1st February Early Bird deadline.
