Derbyshire v Cardiff UCCE preview

Dave Houghton has announced a youthful side for the final game of pre-season, a game against Cardiff UCCE which starts at Derby tomorrow.

The only senior players in the squad are Tom Wood, Alex Hughes, Mattie McKiernan and Dustin Melton, with Nils Priestley also likely to start.

All have an opportunity to get runs on the board and stake a claim for senior involvement this summer. My guess is that Melton will play in the season opener at Edgbaston next Thursday, as Billy Stanlake will not be over in time. I expect the giant Aussie to be treated well over here, not least because we will want him firing for the T20.

The rest of the squad is made up of academy players and Daryn Smit will be an interested onlooker to see how his young charges handle opposition that will be a few years older than them.

The rest of the squad includes Nafis Shaikh, Ben Hutchinson, Mitch Wagstaff, Archie Harrison, Chris Lawrence, Johnny Lawrence and Adam Sylvester and I wish them well.

It is a good opportunity to see how the young tyros are developing and there could easily be a county player or two for the future in that eleven.

I can't wait to see how they get on!

Go well, boys.