Head of Talent Pathway, Daryn Smit, believes the impressive showing from Yousaf Bin Naeem and Harry Moore at the recent ECB Super Fours competition shows Derbyshire’s Pathway is moving in the right direction.
Smit was the Head Coach of the Midlands team which won the Super Fours 50-over competition, with Bin Naeem, 17, scoring three-consecutive half centuries and Moore, 16, recording the highest dot ball percentage of any bowler (59.52%).
The duo produced a match-winning partnership on Day One of the Super Fours competition, while they both also featured in the recent Second XI Championship win over Nottinghamshire, with Bin Naeem scoring a crucial half-century.
With the Metro Bank One Day Cup being played this month, and Derbyshire missing four players to The Hundred, opportunities may arise for players to make their first team debuts, and Smit believes the environment fostered within the Pathway will prepare young prospects for the step up.
“Two of our players were able to lift the trophy at the ECB Super Fours 50-over competition and the showing from both Yousaf and Harry was really pleasing, they did fanstastically well.
“Harry’s performances weren’t really reflected in the wickets collumn, but the way in which he bowled and went about his business had a lot of people talking, on a different day he could have had a bag full of wickets. One day one of the competition, he finished not out and helped us to win from a tricky situation.
“Yousaf was brilliant, certainly for the Midlands he was the standout batter for the week and that’s earnt him some interest from the Young Lions invitational team, and we hope he will be selected for those games at the end of this month.
“The two of them have always played up a couple of age groups, they’ve played adult cricket, and that sets them up to play against older and more experienced players. When they get those opportunities in the Second XI and the first team, those experiences will help them to adapt.
“As a Head of Talent Pathway, you want to prepare your players for the step up to the second and first team as well as possible. At that level, your technical skills come under more pressure.
“You don’t always know when the call is going to come, but the key is to be ready so that when you make that step up, you can go out there and showcase your skills.
“Mickey and I have had a chat and I’ve told him that both players are ready, should they be needed for the Metro Bank One Day Cup, and those experiences of playing higer level cricket under pressure.
“Then it’s a case of keeping the playing confident and ticking over, so if Mickey taps them on the shoulder to play, they’re ready to perform. I don’t think anyone expects a 16 or 17-year old to go out there and score 50s and 100s, but they will be valuable members of the squad whenever they play.”
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