Arthur has high hopes for 'exciting' Derbyshire

Mickey Arthur is juggling his job at Derbyshire with a role with the Pakistan national team

Derbyshire head of cricket Mickey Arthur says he has a Falcons side "filled with excitement machines" ready to make a big early impression the T20 Blast.

Arthur guided Derbyshire to the quarter-finals in 2022, and 12 months later they fell one place and three points short of the knockout stage of the competition.

With Samit Patel - a T20 Blast winner with Nottinghamshire - now captaining the side, all-rounder Ross Whiteley back at the Incora County Ground, and wicketkeeper-batter Aneurin Donald and batter David Lloyd on permanent contracts this summer, the experienced South African coach has high hopes in the shortest format of the game.

"Looking around the dressing room there are genuine match-winners," Arthur told BBC Radio Derby.

"It's exciting because we didn't have this many match-winners in our dressing room previously.

"It's filled with excitement machines."

Derbyshire head into their opening T20 Blast game at Northampton on Thursday having failed to win a fixture so far this season.

They have played out six County Championship Division Two draws to date, and suffered one defeat.

Still, Arthur says his side is now well placed for what is a gruelling start to the T20 Blast, which includes three matches in four days.

"It's the sexy part of the season, really, and the guys are ready to go," Arthur said.

"It takes time to just mould them together to get some momentum and rhythm and we got some of that towards the end [the County Championship games], so I'm hoping now with our T20 squad that we hit the ground running."

Arthur added that a solid start to the competition is a must and more than just a hope.

"I want us to start well and hit he ground running so we don’t put ourselves under pressure towards the back end of the competition," he said.

"One thing in the previous two years is that we started cold, got into the competition then finished it really well. But we were always coming from behind.

"It all happens very quickly [frequency of matches] and you don't want to be sitting there on Tuesday going 'oh sherbet where do we go to now?'"

For the first time, BBC Radio Derby will be broadcasting every T20 Blast game live on all frequencies and BBC Sounds.