Luis Reece says the appointment of Mickey Arthur as Derbyshire Head of Cricket has already lifted the entire Club and given the squad the confidence to target success.
Arthur, who has held top roles with South Africa, Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, will get his first taste of county cricket in 2022 with Derbyshire, as the new Head of Cricket undertakes an ambitious project at The Incora County Ground.
Reece is currently recovering from knee and shoulder surgeries, but is hoping to begin batting work next month, with a view to playing as a batter in the early stages of the 2022 campaign.
Although he is unable to take part in training yet, Reece says the impact of Arthur’s appointment is evident from the sidelines.
“Mickey has international qualities and experience of being on the international scene, and he’s made it clear since he was appointed that’s what he’s going to pass onto us,” said Reece.
“The way we train, the way we look at ourselves and the way we make other people look at us, they’re all things Mickey is keen to change and you only have to look at how hard the lads are training at the moment, there’s definitely been a change in the standards people are setting for themselves.
“You watch them now and then you’ll watch them again in March and that will have all changed again, because you can see the hunger and the excitement is back, after a difficult year. Justifiably, you get disappointed supporters and disappointed players after a bad season, it can get you low on confidence because you feel like you’ve let so many people down, but the appointment of Mickey has just lifted lifted people and set a bit of a fire in them.
“Everyone is working so hard, you’ve got lads lying on the floor after bike sessions because everyone is pushing themselves. You can see that excitement is there, Mickey will pass on his knowledge and expectations and it’s a duty of all players to realise that’s the standards Derbyshire are setting now.
“It’s very easy to say ‘why haven’t those standards always been there’, they have, but now you’ve got someone coming in with a different line of thinking and fresh eyes who can get rid of some of those bad habits that have creeped in. Mickey will be hard on us, but no one will be harder on my than myself and I can’t wait to get involved and work with him.
“Mickey will have a big impact on all of our games, and if he can improve each of us even five percent, then you’re closing that gap on teams, some of the closer games we had in the Vitality Blast turn to wins and your season looks completely different.”
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