Derbyshire duo put pen to paper on new deals

Cricket Derbyshire Academy products Will Davis and Harry White have been awarded deals after impressing during pre-season.

Pace bowler Davis captained the Academy side in 2014 and was named Academy Player of the Year.

He recently earned a call-up to the England Under 19s squad for their forthcoming tour of Australia.

White, a left-arm paceman, signed his first summer contract at the conclusion of the 2014 season prior to earning this incremental deal.

The club’s system of summer and incremental contracts is in line with new PCA and ECB guidelines and has already played an integral role in the development of eight members of the current full-time professional squad.

Scott Elstone, Alex Hughes, Chesney Hughes, Tom Knight, Tom Poynton, Ben Slater, Ben Cotton, Tom Taylor and Greg Cork all came through the ranks in this way.

Elite performance director Graeme Welch said: “These contracts are deserved by the lads for their dedication during pre-season training. They’ll get to further show what they can do on tour in Abu Dhabi.

“We’ve got a nucleus of young talent that we can develop over the next two or three years so the Derbyshire public can really identify with their team.

“We’ve seen this year the likes of Ben Cotton, Tom Taylor and Harvey Hosein break into the first team, and there’s no reason why any of these lads can’t do the same.

“They’re enjoying the chance to train in an elite cricketing environment under our specialist coaching staff and so far are grabbing that opportunity.”