Dominic Cork wants Derbyshire’s players to use the experience of this year’s Vitality Blast to bring more success to the club.
In his first year as Twenty20 Head Coach, Cork guided the Falcons to their maiden Finals Day appearance, picking up wins over Yorkshire, Lancashire and Worcestershire along the way.
Derbyshire carried the underdog tag for most of the competition, but comprehensively beat Gloucestershire in the quarter-final to make history by reaching the final four.
Despite tasting defeat in the semi-final against eventual winners Essex, Cork hopes that the momentum gained from the campaign will help the squad to make such occasions a regular occasion for the club
“For Derbyshire to get there was a magnificent effort,” Cork said.
“Only one overseas player and we were up against teams that have got five, six, seven internationals in their side so it was always going to be a big ask.
“Once you make Finals Day for the first time, you expect to go on and win it, that’s what we set out to do but it’s not about losing in the semi-final, it’s about how we got here in the first place.
“Hopefully some of these players will come off this experience and push on in the future so this can become a regular occurrence.
“I said to the guys, thanks for all your efforts, we had some ups and downs, some things went really right, two wins against Yorkshire, beating Worcestershire, beating Lancashire at Old Trafford, a lot of positive things have come out of this.
“To have a side with one overseas player and not a lot of international experience to come to one of the biggest domestic days in the calendar is testament to a lot of hard work by the players and all the staff.
“Hopefully now going forward they know they can do it and get better. Next year with a couple of T20 overseas players in there, who knows, we could go all the way.”
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