Essex v Derbyshire preview

It's goodbye experience and hello, young tyros as Derbyshire head to Chelmsford for the four-day game against Essex, that starts on Sunday.

Out go Luke Fletcher, Andy Carter and Wes Durston, while in come Tom Milnes, Ben Cotton and Tom Taylor, as Graeme Welch rings the changes for what will be a tough game.They are brave moves, indicative of the man and sensible ones to boot. None of the experienced men have torn up trees as yet, while the youngsters have accepted their place in the seconds and produced figures to say to the coach 'Pick me'. Equally, Carter and Durston will likely be in the frame for T20, so a breather now will ensure they are ready to roll.

There's no better time to be picked for a team than when you are in form and while I accept that the gulf between first and second team cricket is considerable, the young players coming in have the ability and have proven it sporadically in the past. All have had brief careers with shining moments; their challenge now is to produce those moments more frequently.

Matt Critchley also returns and I applaud Welch's encouragement and reward of good performance. Without longer exposure to senior cricket, we won't know which of these lads can make it, but like the others, Critchley returns to the side on the back of form with bat and ball.

The final make up won't be known until the morning of the game, though Chelmsford is likely to be one for the seamers. Dare we play all five, leaving spin in the hands of Chesney Hughes and Wayne Madsen, or play four and the leggie? All will be revealed in due course, but the twelve is:

Billy Godleman (Captain)
Chesney Hughes
Hamish Rutherford
Wayne Madsen
Neil Broom
Shiv Thakor
Matthew Critchley
Tom Poynton
Tom Milnes
Tony Palladino
Ben Cotton
Tom Taylor

Essex will be tough. They won't have Alastair Cook, but Tom Westley is in prime form and Nick Browne always seems to do well against us. Ravi Bopara, Ryan ten Doeschate, James Foster and (if fit) Jesse Ryder give them international experience, while Jamie Porter has joined the evergreen David Masters and Graham Napier in forming a potent seam attack.

Can we win? We need to bat and bowl much better than we have, that's for sure. Half the batsmen are in good form and half aren't. Only Tony Palladino and Shiv Thakor have taken wickets this summer at senior level, so the side as a whole needs to up their game.

It is a game against the side that I expect to win the division this summer, after years of under-performance. As such, it will be a good benchmark for our team - and a feather in the cap of the young players if they acquit themselves well.

I hope they do, but we'll do well to get something from this one.

Your thoughts?