Mickey Arthur pre-season interview with David Griffin

Mickey Arthur, Derbyshire’s Head of Cricket recently signed a new three year contract extending his tenure at the club to the end of 2028.

Shortly after putting pen to paper to confirm his new deal, Mickey sat down with Heritage Officer David Griffin for their fifth annual pre-season conversation about all things Derbyshire.

As is usually the case at this time of year, we’re looking out at a windswept and rainy cricket ground, but nonetheless, the prospect of the new season always whets the appetite. However, before we look back to 2025 and the prospects for 2026, what have you been doing during the close season, aside from signing players?

Yes, signing cricketers has been an important part of my winter, but working here on the close season programme with our staff has been equally important for those players who are here.

I spent October in Perth where my youngest got married and then I was working in Abu Dhabi in a T10 competition and subsequently in the Bangladesh Premier League from 22^nd December for a further month. And of course, watching Arsenal on television has been good fun!

Looking back at 2025, it’s probably an over-simplification to say red ball good, white ball bad, because there were some excellent performances in white ball cricket but a real lack of consistency. Overall, is that fair?

Yes it is. Our inability to win back-to-back games was the main problem. We only did it once when we beat Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire in the Blast, and without the momentum which consistent winning brings, we were always struggling.

I knew we had built a squad that was probably red ball proficient but I felt we needed everything to click in the white ball game to be successful. There were some very good things going on but not often enough.

Nye Donald was outstanding in T20 cricket, batting in a manner which we’ve not previously seen from a Derbyshire player in that form of the game. He’s missed out on England Lions selection, but you must be delighted with his progress in that format?

I was incredibly impressed, but he’d had a good year in 2024 so we knew what he could do, but in 2025 he was really special. He created so much impact at the top of the order which is vital if we’re to win games. There’s still work to be done, though, because ideally, we want him to continue his innings outside the Powerplay. He possesses remarkable skills, especially in hitting balls out of the ground, but we’re working hard on further refinement.

He scored over 400 runs at 32 while striking at over 200 runs per hundred balls. If you did an impact barometer across the county game, Nye would be right up there.

I’ve spoken to the England selectors about Nye and have been assured that he’s there or thereabouts.

Mohammad Ghazanfar turned out to be an inspired signing. He performed well, took the most T20 wickets and you obviously saw enough to want him back this summer.

Yes, he was so exciting and it’s been interesting to watch his development in all the other leagues. His performance at Headingley against Yorkshire – bowling to Malan and Bairstow – was exceptional and I’m pleased to get him back.

In the County Championship we saw an uplift from bottom of the table to third and Derbyshire were never outside the top three all season, sitting in a promotion place for much of the summer. Plus, two defeats were the fewest since 2012 so these are good indicators that Derbyshire had become harder to beat, but three wins needed to be four, at least, to secure promotion. What do you consider to be at the heart of the improvement?

Well, generally speaking we got enough runs which gave greater heart to our bowlers because scoreboard pressure then became a factor. We also scored runs quicker which gave us more time to bowl sides out. All our career batting strike rates in first class matches were improved upon in 2025 which was something we had worked on.

Two players who defy ageing, Luis Reece and Wayne Madsen, were again the mainstays of the side; Reece bookending the season with match-winning efforts against Gloucestershire here at Derby and against Kent at Canterbury, while Madsen was again at his usual best. You must be delighted that they are still such an integral part of your side.

They are both so invested in what we are trying to do – indeed, everyone is – but Wayne and Reecey epitomise that. They’ve been through some ups and downs at Derbyshire but their ambition and drive and determination is an example to the entire squad. They have such pride in their own performances and I want our young players in the dressing room to aspire to them.

Caleb Jewell was the leading all format run-scorer in the entire county game. Largely unknown before he arrived, how impressed were you with his first season in county cricket?

I’d been watching Caleb for two years before we signed him because I wanted someone to come in and give us impetus at the top of the order like Shan Masood did. Now those guys aren’t easy to find in terms of availability and I reckoned that an Australian player, outside of international cricket, was most likely to be one we could sign for an entire summer.

He got a lot of runs, he scored them quickly, but he brought much more to Derbyshire. I speak to him four times a week and he sees Derbyshire as his club and certainly sees his future here. He enjoys the environment and enjoys scoring runs here!

Jack Morley saw him in Melbourne last week and all Caleb was talking about was his return to Derbyshire.

In Championship cricket we saw the ever-presence of Harry Came, Zak Chappell, Brooke Guest and Wayne Madsen, plus others like Martin Andersson, Morley and Reece who played in the majority of games. Did that consistency of selection help?

Of course, and I’m glad you mentioned Andersson and Morley because I think both could play international cricket. Martin needs to work on his bowling but his batting was exceptional for us last year, while Jack Morley’s best ball is as good as that of any spinner in world cricket but he needs more consistency. I look at those two guys and know they can really progress.

Martin’s hundreds put us in good positions and Jack’s two five wicket hauls demonstrated that he can be a match-winner.

Zak Chappell was the club’s leading wicket-taker and Ben Aitchison made a welcome return to the side in all forms of the game but there’s a lot of excitement about the signing of Mohammad Abbas and the impact he could have on the club overall, and particularly the rest of our pace attack.

Absolutely. Zak Chappell has become a very good, reliable county cricketer. An all format player with a game which improves year to year and he’s always on the team sheet.

I was really happy with Ben. I knew he had potential and he grew quite dramatically towards the end of the season. We forget that in terms of fast bowling he’s very young, but he’s strong and he’s got his best years ahead of him.

The thinking around Mohammad Abbas was that I wanted a consistent, proven performer who would take inexpensive wickets in the Championship but who would influence our young quick bowlers like Harry Moore, Nick Potts and Rory Haydon. He’s a master bowler who will help us to control games, especially at the start of an innings. He will also help the guy bowling at the other end by bowling with great control and accuracy. He made his debut for Pakistan when I was there and we have a really good relationship. I’m really excited about him coming to Derbyshire and the positive impact he will make on our cricket.

Which formats is he likely to play?

We’ve made our T20 signings and he might play for Pakistan during the Metro Bank competition, but he’s here predominantly as a red ball specialist.

Shoaib Bashir was touted as coming to Derbyshire months before his signing was announced. How did Bashir’s arrival come about?

He wants to play all formats and improve his game and he feels that Derbyshire is the ideal environment for that to happen. That also works for me so it’s a logical signing for me. It shows a clear ambition here at Derbyshire to be bringing a current England international cricketer into our squad. His signing adds competition in the spin bowling department, too.

Ever since I came to Derbyshire I wanted to be in a position where we had a competitive squad where performance determined selection. I think we’re there now. And Shoaib Bashir is the cherry on top of the cake; he has the skills set we require and once he became available I had no hesitation in trying to sign him. The board here has been incredibly supportive and though it took a while to get over the line, we’ve got there in the end.

Is it fair to describe Abbas and Bashir as statement signings which send a message out to the rest of county cricket that Derbyshire mean business?

Definitely, And I add Matt Montgomery into that category. Other counties wanted him and I’d been observing him for a while from a distance. I knew he was not getting sufficient opportunities at Notts, who have such quality in their batting, but we can offer him a place in our side.

The Metro Bank competition offered us a welcome glimpse of Montgomery. He scored over 400 runs at more than 70 with a couple of hundreds but he’ll now come into the side in all formats. What can we expect from him in red ball cricket?

In my mind, the club has to consider the long-term successor to Wayne Madsen, How do you replace a player like Wayne? Well, with difficulty, but at some stage we will need to fill that void and for me, in terms of style of play and character, I see Matt Montgomery as a potential successor in due course.

These three signings – Abbas, Bashir and Montgomery are definitely statement signings.

You’ve also signed Sufyan Moqim to share the overseas bowling position in T20 cricket; he’ll be new to most Derbyshire followers so what can we expect from him?

I’d watched him previously but hadn’t worked with him but he was in my team at the Bangladesh Premier League and it didn’t take me very long before I was on the ‘phone to Ryan (Duckett, Derbyshire CEO) to tell him he was my preference – he’s different, has a great stock ball but bowls a googly, top-spinner, carrom ball and all at varying speeds.

He’s got something about him – he is genuinely excited about coming to play for us.

We’ve discussed new signings and although Harry Moore doesn’t fall into that category, his absence in 2025 meant that we’ve seen very little of a highly promising cricketer who impressed in the second half of 2024. What’s the position with him in terms of injury and has he been able to play much cricket?

He went with the England Under-19s to Grenada just to work with the squad and developed a little bit of soreness but we’re keeping a close eye on him. But he’s been working hard and I’m confident that we’ll have him available for selection in April.

I’m still really excited about his prospects.

Newcomers in 2025 included Joe Hawkins, Amrit Basra and Rory Haydon; can we expect to see much of them in the first team this summer?

Yes. I’ve already mentioned how excited I am about Abbas, Bashir and Montgomery, but I’m equally excited about those three young players.

Rory Haydon has impressed Chris Wright (new Bowling Lead) with his accuracy, while Amrit Basra will bring some real impetus to our T20 side having shown us what he can do in the 50-over competition last year. And Joe has great potential having made his first class and one day debuts last year.

With an array of differing styles and speeds amongst your pace attack, Rory Haydon seems to offer a very traditional way of bowling, aiming at the top of off stump on a good length; so do you see this as an opportunity for him to develop alongside Mohammad Abbas?

I certainly do. Rory makes a great virtue out of making the batsman play and has great control for a young bowler. He should only improve with Abbas alongside him.

In one of our pre-season interviews a few years ago you mentioned the importance of refreshing the off-field staff as well as the playing staff every year or two; what was the reasoning behind Chris Wright’s appointment?

Well, Aj (Ajmal Shahzad) had done a really nice job for us, and we had some great applicants but I wanted a guy who had recently been playing the game; many of our cricketers have played against Chris and have huge respect for him as a player.

He’s brought a real tactical nous to us – he’s had some really insightful conversations with our bowlers, looking at how they will bowl to particular players in a match situation.

We’ve not discussed everyone in your squad but I assume they will all be travelling to Zimbabwe for the pre-season tour in March?

Absolutely. We’re taking the full squad minus the overseas players; we’ll play two three day games against an ‘A’ side and in the second game, the players not involved in that game will play in an alternative game we’ve arranged. Everybody will get an opportunity to impress and will return knowing that 48 hours after landing we’ve got a three-day game at Grace Road (against Leicestershire) and following a day off we have another three-day game, here, against Leeds/Bradford UCCE, so all our squad will get a game on grass here in England, too.

Then we pick for the opener against Worcestershire. It’s up to the guys to put their hats in the ring for selection.

It’s unlikely that I’ll plan for our frontline bowlers to get off the plane and play at Leicester so we’ll probably have a younger bowling attack out for that game, but it’s more likely that the team I envisage playing against Worcestershire will play against the university side. But selection is still wide open right now. Everybody has lots of opportunities to come – but with 11 players who can bat in the top six or seven – they have to make the case. It’s not much different with the bowling.

Back In 2022, when we first sat down to do a pre-season interview, did you envisage we’d be doing this for a fifth time?

Yes, I did. I love this place and I really see it as a place that has potential. We are getting better, slower than I wanted and expected, but the signs are there. I came here for the right reasons in that I was looking for a fresh challenge having travelled the world with international sides.

I wanted a solid, permanent base and county cricket is something I was incredibly keen to get involved in and had wanted to since I was young.

Before we conclude, are you willing to share your views on England’s winter in Australia?

There’s no such thing as a weakened Australia team in Australia, but, if you wanted to pick a time to play Australia on their pitches, it was now. I thought England would push them close but it was very disappointing.

I don’t think we saw the players play to their potential and the easiest cop out is to claim that “this is the way we play” – the reality is that there are times in Test cricket when you have to absorb pressure before you can apply pressure later. Some players today don’t seem to want to spend the time building pressure; it’s too hard for some.

Australia used the short ball really well. In England, most play the short ball well because the boundaries are short and a mis-hit clears the rope. Not in Australia – you’ve got to hit it properly.

I thought England’s cricket was naïve and they got exposed. I don’t think they’re bad players – they have some outstanding cricketers – but they must be disappointed with themselves.

It was really ironic that the whole three years build-up to The Ashes was about pace, being able to bowl at 140 kmph to have success in Australia where English county seamers wouldn’t get a look-in and yet Boland and Neser bowled England out with the ‘keeper up to the stumps!

England were almost beaten at their own traditional game.

Once again, Mickey, thanks for your time; I’m sure everyone connected with Derbyshire will wish you and your players and staff the very best for the coming season.

Thank you. We’ll be doing our very best.