Derbyshire are back in Specsavers County Championship action this weekend and captain Billy Godleman is confident that the team is ready to build on a promising start to the season.
After starting with a home victory over Durham and a draw against Gloucestershire at Bristol, Derbyshire are top of Division Two although only six points separated the top six ahead of this week’s round of matches.
And as Derbyshire prepare for the visit of Glamorgan to The Pattonair County Ground on Sunday, Godleman also believes the team can draw strength from performances in the recent Royal London One-Day Cup competition.
Godleman enjoyed a golden tournament, scoring 521 runs and became the first Derbyshire batsman to make three consecutive centuries in one-day matches while Wayne Madsen followed his unbeaten double century at Bristol with two hundreds.
But it was the way Derbyshire performed as a team in the 50-over format that most pleased Godleman who said: “It speaks volumes about the character in the group.
“This is a different group to the one we’ve had over the last 24 months so that needs to be taken into account but I do definitely feel we are moving in a positive and improved direction.”
Derbyshire can take encouragement from finishing above Warwickshire, who they beat at Derby, and Yorkshire who they tied with in a thrilling game at Headingley.
“We’ve played some good stuff at home which is important to us as a club and every single game we’ve played in, notably against the bigger counties, we’ve competed in every one,” Godleman said.
“We try and take each game and break it down and make sure we put ourselves in a position to firstly compete and then obviously win the game and in terms of the competing box I know we can tick every single fixture we’ve played in this season.”
Derbyshire will have had a 13-day break leading up to the start of the Glamorgan game and Godleman said: “It has given us an opportunity for some guys to get some practice out in the middle if they wish to play in the second team or get in the nets and we are really excited about getting back out there in the red-ball game.”
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