Hundred berth takes Wayne Madsen back to Lancashire league beginnings

Derbyshire batsman's journey in English cricket began with three seasons at Unsworth Cricket Club in Bury

Wayne Madsen believes the experiences he gained playing Lancashire league cricket more than a decade ago will prove crucial when he appears for the Manchester Originals next summer.

Madsen has established himself as one of the most consistent players across all formats in domestic cricket during a 10-year career at Derbyshire.

But it was three seasons at Unsworth Cricket Club in Bury where his journey in English cricket first began as he sought to build his cricket education during the off season in his native South Africa.

“For me it is amazing to be going back,” said Madsen, who was picked up by the Originals in the fourth round of last month’s draft.

“I have got so many friends there. I did three years with Unsworth when it was the Central Lancashire League at the time.

“I had an amazing time up there and I learnt a lot about my own game. The responsibility of a pro in those leagues was pretty massive and that has certainly stood me in good stead for my county career to take responsibility with both with bat and ball and being able to perform under pressure situations.

“It was league cricket on a different scale but a similar sort of principals and pressure still apply. Mentally I learnt so much about myself and also my game up at Unsworth.”

Madsen looms as one of the bargain picks of The Hundred draft following a stunning run of form in white-ball cricket in recent years.

The 35-year-old right-hander is the second-highest runscorer in the Vitality Blast over the past three seasons and helped Derbyshire to Finals Day for the first time in September.

With short-format teams across the world increasingly placing a higher value on more experienced batsmen, Madsen revealed he had never felt more confident about his white-ball form and credits constantly looking to evolve his game as critical to that.

“My white-ball career has just got better and better through time and through changing skills,” he said.

“Obviously I had the base skills in place but it is then about adapting. At the end of the day it is about assessing the risk and reward and backing yourself to do it under pressure.

“The biggest development for me has been being able to strike the ball out of the ground straight. Four or five seasons ago I did a winter literally about range hitting and just trying to develop my game in terms of being able to power hit and that’s definitely helped me against spinner and seamers.”

^{Wayne Madsen will play for Manchester Originals in The Hundred}

Madsen knows his experience will be critical in an Originals squad that is laced with exciting young talent such as Saqib Mahmood, Matt Parkinson, Phil Salt, Tom Abell, Eddie Byrom and Joe Clarke.

“I think we have a really good balance of youth and experience with our players,” he said.

“There is a lot of room for shared learning and not just in terms of me passing on experience to the younger guys but for their tricks and technical skills for me to pick up little tips as well.

“That’s the main thing as a cricketer – you never stop learning. When you do, that’s when your career stagnates especially with the way the game moves forward.

“Now The Hundred will be about trying to find new ways as a batter to score even quicker.

“Scoring 360 is pretty crucial and I think that we have a lot of players in our squad that are able to do that which bodes well for next year.”

Madsen hopes the tournament will also put his name in the shop window for other international competitions following a career that has arguably deserved more recognition on the world stage.

He had a brief spell with Peshawar Zalmi as they reached the final of the Pakistan Super League earlier his year and admits a desire to prove his quality when the eyes of the world fall on The Hundred next summer.

“For us the 100-ball is almost our international tournament in terms of the quality that is going to be on show,” he said.

“There will be eight teams with some of the best players from around the world. It is going to be for us that shop window for other competitions if we do well as players.

“It’s certainly going to open some doors into the other events around the world.”

Courtesy of the ECB Reporters Network.