Derbyshire’s Wayne Madsen has hailed the positive impact of Head of Cricket David Houghton and his coaching staff ahead of the 2019 season.
Madsen, who has been a prolific run-scorer since joining the county in 2009, worked with Houghton in his previous stint as batting coach at the Club in 2011, and he is delighted to have the former Zimbabwe Test batsman back at Derbyshire.
He said: “It’s brilliant to have Houghts back. For me, he’s probably the best coach that I’ve worked with so to have him back here is amazing.
“His leadership and the way he gets his message across to the players and the rest of the coaching staff, it really gives us the confidence to go out and perform.
“It’s not just the players, it’s the rest of the coaching staff and the people around the ground – if you have leadership like that it bodes well for the future looking forward.”
The 35-year-old is looking forward to his eleventh season with Derbyshire, targeting success on the field while the squad continues to develop.
Madsen added: “It’s always exciting looking forward to April, the preparations so far have been excellent.
“As is stands at the moment we’ve got exactly what we need out of the winter training and the plans ahead are looking good to make sure we’re prepared for the beginning of April.
“We’re looking forward to challenging ourselves against the best players in the country and for us as a squad we want to challenge each other as well to improve and get better.
“Ultimately, we want to win competitions and that’s the drive for this squad so it’ll be a great opportunity to play at big venues in big games.”
“We made some strides last year in terms of our performances, especially in the red ball competition.
“We had a good start to the year in all competitions really, with a bit of a blip in the middle but we can build on that moving forward.
“We know we’re going to have to play really good cricket and be consistent throughout the season, which will be the main thing.
“There will be three teams being promoted this year so I think that can be something that we can aspire to try and achieve.”
With no sign of slowing down, Madsen committed his future to Derbyshire by signing a three-year contract extension in the winter, and is keen to keep contributing.
He said: “Obviously the number one goal for me is performing for the team so if I can score my runs, take my wickets and hold my catches, that’s going to be the most important thing.
“I want to make sure that I’m contributing to this team winning games so for me that’s the biggest goal.
“I still have a great desire and passion to win games of cricket and achieve for the team, I love it.
“It’s an exciting time as you build up to the season, every season feels like the build up to Christmas. For me, I absolutely love it and that desire and passion is very much still there.”
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