Derbyshire in it to win it - Madsen

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Wayne Madsen has reiterated Derbyshire’s desire to adopt a “fearless” approach on their return to Division One of the LV= County Championship.

Following a memorable promotion-winning campaign last summer, Derbyshire are preparing to feature in the top-flight for only the second time since a two-tier system was adopted in 2000.

Counties promoted from Division Two are often tipped for relegation, as has been the case with Madsen’s men this time around.

However, head coach Karl Krikken told ecb.co.uk in December that Derbyshire would not be content to just make up the numbers and this is a view shared by the club’s captain.

Wayne Madsen insists Derbyshire will "play fearless cricket exactly like we did last year" in an attempt to follow up the success of 2012

Speaking on the pre-season tour of Barbados, Madsen said: “You start the season looking to win it (the championship). There’s no point in us trying to just survive and stay in the division; if you do that, you’re going to be fighting at the bottom.

“We’re going to look to play positive cricket, play fearless cricket exactly like we did last year and we’ll see where that takes us.”

With only three points available for a draw in comparison to 16 for a win, Madsen feels there is only one way for clubs to approach four-day fixtures.

He also expects Derbyshire’s largely youthful squad to draw on their experiences in 2012, when winning became a habit.

“You have to win games if you want to finish anywhere in the table and that’s what we did last year. We were able to win more games than anyone else, hence we won Division Two,” he added.

“We’ve started to get the winning mentality and the guys have learned to finish off games, both with the bat and with the ball. That’s going to be a big asset to us.”

In adding the ultra-reliable West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul to their ranks, Derbyshire appear to have made an astute move.

Madsen understandably describes Chanderpaul, who boasts 10,722 Test runs, as “the main man to look out for” in his side.

Yet he is confident the lesser-known players in Derbyshire’s squad can exceed expectations for the second year in succession.

“We’ve got a few youngsters coming through,” said the South African.

“Our bowling line-up did particularly well for us last year and on the batting front we’ve got young Dan Redfern in the middle order and a few older heads at the top, who contributed last year and will be looking to do more of the same.”

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