Guest Eyes Red Ball Promotion For Derbyshire

“It went really well. Obviously, it was disappointing that we couldn’t get away to Zimbabwe. But going to Desert Springs in Spain was a really good trip for us. The weather was great, which always helps, and it was just good to get outside and train on grass wickets…that was a real bonus…we got what we needed out of the trip and everyone’s in a good place to hit the ground running for the first game of the season.”

Ahead of the 2026 curtain-raiser, Derbyshire played a couple of recent pre-season friendlies which featured an away trip to Leicestershire and a home game against Leeds/Bradford UCCE. As the wicketkeeper pointed out, cold air and high winds made for brutal weather conditions for a summer sport, but the warm-up matches still proved to be highly beneficial despite several interruptions caused by rainfall:

““I was quite lucky – being a keeper, I had my gloves on so my hands were okay. But I felt sorry for the lads stood next to me at the slips. They had freezing cold hands. But to get outside playing after having to spend the winter indoors – it’s priceless. To play some games of cricket before the opening match of the season is really important. It’s a different pressure compared to training. The weather affected both friendly games, but just to get out there in the middle and play, has really helped our preparation for the opening game.”