Our senior correspondent Huw Lloyd spoke to new Derbyshire captan David Lloyd.
When Derbyshire took to the field against Leeds/Bradford UCCE on Easter Sunday to signal the official start of the 2024 season for all those at the club and for the third season in a row it is under a different captain. Following Billy Godleman and Luis DuPlooy is David Lloyd (no relation), signed in the winter from Glamorgan where he had spent the first eleven years of his career, apart from a brief loan spell with his new county last summer. Lloyd brings with him captaincy experience having led the Welsh County since 2022 and also fond memories of playing against Derbyshire, having scored a mammoth 313 not out against his new employer back in 2022. So why change counties now? It was a question I wanted to ask him when I caught up with him at the end of play on Tuesday.
“I was at the stage of my career now where I felt it was time for a change. I spoke to Mickey a couple of times and he was telling me it was an exciting project and something I wanted to be a part of.” Both of his points are understandable. Eleven years is a long time to be anywhere in a career, certainly longer than anywhere I have worked and an opportunity to freshen up what you are doing is often too good to turn down, especially as when Lloyd says it gives the opportunity to be apart of Mickey Arthur’s ongoing project at Derbyshire. It is exciting times for the county as Lloyd says, bringing established high performing players into the squad such as Pat Brown and Samit Patel, both of whom have England caps to their name. Ross Whiteley and Aneurin Donald have also been signed, both having played in high profile county matches, especially in white ball cricket and now coupling them with the established players already in the Derbyshire dressing room such as Wayne Madsen, Sam Conners and Luis Reece.
It is easy to see why Lloyd wanted to be a part of that, but whenever there are big changes it can also throw up challenges, as you try to mesh the newcomers with the players already in the changing room. As captain he will be responsible for that transition, but he is pleased with how it is going, saying:
“Mickey’s brought in characters and they’ve fitted in straight away and that’s thanks to the current lads who’ve been here. We’re obviously still learning about things and our main aim now is to get our heads down and come together as a group.”
That continued coming together as a group will be important for Derbyshire and is helped by Lloyd having been on loan briefly with the club last year, something he recognised too:
“I got to know the place a little bit; got to know the dressing room and how things are done and that’s been really beneficial. I’m obviously still learning things and getting to know the players really and Mickey and the other coaching staff because it can be difficult to come into new environments, but they’ve made my time here so far very special and obviously that’s making me very excited for the future.”
So the transition and integration of new players into the squad is going well and Lloyd is part of the Mickey Arthur ambition to bring in a winning mentality to the squad, something which he feels has been lacking in his two years in charge. When asked about this Lloyd pointed out the benefits of bringing in players who have been there and done it before saying:
“It’s Experience in those 50/50 situations, where you’ve kind of been there before done it, and it’s how you cope under those pressures really. I think, obviously, you look at the white ball side and what people like Samit (Patel) and Ross Whiteley bring to the team. It’s obviously very beneficial in terms of what they’ve done. They’ve won trophies wherever they’ve gone really. So we’re very lucky in that way and hopefully that’ll rub off onto the group, not only in whiteball but into our squad in general.”
Derbyshire supporters will be hoping that that winning mentality pays off and the county can bring its first silverware since 2012 to the Incora County Ground. If silverware does come it won’t be just down to the new players, but also the crop of players who remain from last season and Lloyd was keen to point out how impressed he has been with those players:
“I must say the work ethic of the lads has really impressed me, the way they want to improve their own game, and the way they’re going about that. It stands themselves in good stead. They want to get better which is obvious, but they’ve really impressed me on that front.”
Derbyshire will need to get better too if they are hoping to win trophies and compete for promotion from Division Two, having failed to win a single fixture in the championship in 2023 or reach the knock out stages of either white ball competition, but with Lloyd at the helm and the blend of new and established players in the dressing room, this could well be the year for the turnaround.
