Derbyshire quick to attack

NICK DERBYSHIRE will not be backward in coming forward when the banter starts at Grainville today. The C&W Rovers fast bowler is making his inter-insular debut and has been warned by his team-mates what to expect. Suffice to say, he is looking forward to it.

'I have heard it will be a relatively vocal affair, which always adds to the atmosphere. I am certainly not one for shirking it when it comes to verbal pleasantries,' he said with a grin.

Having played first-class cricket for Lancashire and Essex, a few heated exchanges will hardly be anything new to the 33-year-old and he will give as good as he gets in Jersey.

He also has a clear objective in mind when he gets hold of the new ball.

Derbyshire is an assured character and a very talented cricketer, but he is also being very sensible in his approach to this game and, as such, is unwilling to make any boastful predictions with how the match will pan out.

He emphasised that was the mood through the rest of the squad members as well.

'We are confident in our own ability and our collective ability to do our job, but we are definitely not complacent. Sure, there will be nerves but that is a good thing because it gets the adrenaline pumping.

'We have a squad of 12 talented players and there are a lot more talented guys who have not made that 12 so there is a lot of strength in depth.

'It highlights how strong a team we have got if Pierre Moody, who won the game for us last year, is coming in at nine or 10 and someone like Divan van den Heever is at seven or eight - it says a lot.'

Indeed, is says a lot that Derbyshire himself will be at 11 just two weeks after he opened the batting for his club and scored 45 against St Ouen, whose opening bowler Paul Horton will be in Jersey's attack today.

Put that ability with the bat alongside his obvious threat with the ball and it is easy to see why he has made the Guernsey side.

It has nothing to do with the squad's sponsorship deal with the Kraken Group, which Derbyshire helped to broker as he is a director of the company. 'At least, I certainly hope it's not,' he said.

During his brief time in Guernsey cricket, Derbyshire has already played a major role in Rovers becoming the 2004 Guernsey champions as well as in their excellent Evening League campaign.

'I was not expecting to play so much cricket, but I have enjoyed it very much - I have been pleasantly surprised,' he said.

'I did not know the type of club Rovers were, but I think I have fitted in very well. I must have done because they appointed me chairman of the fines committee and we have raised nearly £400 so far. Winning does help, though.

'I think I have added something to the team in terms of age and experience and perhaps a bit of a steely edge - a bit more competitiveness.

'We were very pleased to win the championship. From what I gather, historically it has usually been a two or three-horse race but this year everyone was beating everyone and it was good to win a league that was very competitive. It was very satisfying.'

From a personal point of view, the quickie has been content with his performances and admitted that the mountain of work he has had to do had probably helped him.

'I am the kind of bowler that needs to stay in rhythm. The good thing is that I have been playing so much that I have been able to keep that rhythm.

'As with any other bowler, sometimes you can come away with four or five wickets having bowled poorly and other times you bowl really well and not have any luck, so I am reasonably pleased but there is always room for improvement.'

Away from playing, Derbyshire has spent time considering how local cricket can improve.

He has drawn on his own experiences from his county days and come to the conclusion that we are currently too insular. He would be very keen to see more touring sides come to the island and our representative squads going away more.

'In all honesty, I played very little first-class cricket but having spent time at those counties, I was given a great opportunity to play with or against some very good players.

'To be able to rub shoulders with the likes of Wasim Akram and Patrick Patterson in the early 90s was brilliant. I was also around at the same time as people like Mike Atherton, Nasser Hussain, Ronnie Irani and Graham Gooch and I certainly learnt a lot.

'There is a lot of cricket played in Guernsey but you can see how good you are only if you are playing against touring sides or going away to play people. It is good to test out how good we are against sides from the UK.

'There is a lot of store placed on the inter-insular, which is right, but it not the only game. It is important to progress as a side.'

Derbyshire advocates the idea of Guernsey playing against minor-county sides on a regular basis, or even the 2nd XIs of first-class counties, saying it is the level the island needs to be targeting, especially now that they are moving into the ICC.

Locally, he would like to see the facilities improved and the promising youth players fast-tracked into the clubs' first teams.

'What I see as very important is investment in pitches and getting younger players involved earlier,' said Derbyshire.

'For the benefit of Guernsey cricket, everyone has to work together and be pushing forward to really improve it.'

But for the final word we return to the subject of today's encounter and how he sees the game going.

'From a cricket purist's point of view, you would want a tight game and your side to win, but from a personal point of view, I would prefer us to score 500 and bowl them out for 50.

'In all seriousness, though, I want it to be a good team performance but with some individual highlights. It would be great if someone got 100 or five wickets in their backyard.'