Arthur confirms Melton departure

Head of Cricket, Mickey Arthur, has confirmed that fast bowler Dustin Melton will leave Derbyshire at the end of the 2022 season.

The 27-year-old has taken 27 wickets for Derbyshire and remains available for selection across all formats for the remainder of this summer.

“Unfortunately, we aren’t going to renew Dustin Melton’s contract at the end of the season,” said Arthur.

“He is currently not eligible as an English-qualified player, so he’s on our books as overseas, but with Suranga Lakmal and Shan Masood signed, we were always like to go with their experience.

“When Suranga got injured, and with Ben Aitchison already out, we needed another quick bowler and we went with Hayden Kerr, so unfortunately for Dustin, he’s missing out.

“We’ve got a good group of young bowlers and they’ll take time to develop. But we need to balance that with experience and that’s what has been lacking with the injuries we’ve had.

“During the close season, we will be looking for experienced options to improve our seam bowling department to make it stronger and with Dustin not part of those plans, it’s only right to allow him to look to pursue his career elsewhere.”

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