Wainwright relishing view from the top

By Andy Wilson

It will be more the merrier for David Wainwright as he looks to continue the outstanding start to his career with Derbyshire. Underused and allowed to leave after eight years with Yorkshire, Wainwright has been the workhorse of the Derbyshire bowling attack this season in their rise to the top of the LV County Championship Division Two.

He has already bowled more Championship overs that he did in the last two seasons put together for Yorkshire. In fact, no one in the country has bowled more than him right now.

But the reward for his hard work has been 24 Championship wickets following a third five-for of the campaign in the first innings of the match against Essex at Chelmsford – and he shows no sign of wanting to ease the load.

“I’m enjoying doing lots of bowling. It’s a lot better being out there on the pitch than it is going to the gym and carrying drinks,” said Wainwright. “I’m happy to bowl as many overs as Wayne (Madsen) will let me. Give me the ball and I’ll keep bowling all day. As long as I keep bowling there’s a chance to pick up wickets.

“I’ve got a clear plan from Krikk (Karl Krikken) and Wayne what they want me to do – keep it tight when there’s nothing there and then when there is a bit in the pitch, try to pick up wickets. It’s pretty clear what they want from me. Wayne lets me set my field to how I want, we work well together and it’s all paying dividends at the minute.”

Wainwright’s form has been the headline of the story of the season so far in the second division. Derbyshire’s position at the top of the table would have been expected by very few but though he knows there are tougher challenges ahead, Wainwright sees no reason why they cannot stay there.

“It’s a great start. The lads are playing well. We just need to pick up a couple of one-day wins but the Championship is looking good,” he added.
 
“When you look at the fixtures, they have probably been a bit kind to us and that’s worked on our favour. We’ve got on a roll and when you come up to play Essex twice, Kent twice and Yorkshire twice, you’ve got a load of confidence and just want to keep the ball rolling.
 
“You’d rather be up there with teams trying to catch you than playing catch-up yourselves, so we’re looking to keep as far ahead as we can for as long as we can.

“We’ve already proved to a few people who thought we would be bottom of this competition that it’s not the case. We’ve got a good squad and there’s no reason why we can’t stay up there.”




Date: 24/05/2012 11:34:59 by Andy Wilson
In: Today | Derbyshire |