Wayne Madsen

Wayne Madsen's reputation blossomed in 2013 with the greater attention given to Derbyshire following their promotion to Division One of the Championship. Derbyshire were relegated immediately but their captain, Madsen, proved a formidable opponent, scoring 1221 Championship runs and being the first player to reach 1000 runs in Division One. He was named as Championship Cricketer of the Year by the Cricket Writers' Club.

Although one of the securer top-order batsmen in the country, international honours never came and when he accepted a new three-year contract at Derbyshire, at 34, inured once more to the normality of guiding them through a difficult Division Two campaign, it appeared as if he would see out his career with the county.

Madsen had stepped down from the Derbyshire captaincy before the 2016 season after five years during which his undemonstrative leadership style had commanded great respect, suggesting that he still harboured England ambitions, but although the runs and the county awards kept coming the selectors looked elsewhere. In 2022, he scored more Championship runs - 1273 - than anyone in either division, but at 38 his chances of a Test cap seemed remote.

Madsen, who was born in Durban, South Africa and represented the country as an international hockey player, started his career with KwaZulu-Natal and played played four seasons for them - playing in the Lancashire leagues in the off-season - before heading to the UK full time in 2008.

He first secured a two-year Derbyshire contract in 2009 after cracking two centuries in his first four games with the county and averaged 57.78 in the County Championship in his first season.

He became captain in 2012 and straight away guided Derbyshire to promotion - their first honour for 20 years. His personal highlight was a career-best 231 against Northamptonshire and he shared a ninth-wicket partnership of 261 with Tom Poynton which fell only 23 runs short of the world record.

Back-to-back hundreds in the Royal London One Day Cup in 2014 - his first two in the 50-over format - enabled him to lead Derbyshire to their first quarter-final for nine years. He was still scoring heavily in 2018, one of only two Division Two batsmen to pass 1000 Championship runs, and his consistency and inventiveness as T20 player earned him contracts in the PSL and T10. He was also drafted for the Hundred, helping Manchester Originals to reach the final of the 2022 edition.

Outside cricket, he also spent some of his off season coaching Belper Ladies hockey club.
David Hopps