Charl Langeveldt has so far taken 47 Championship wickets and even if promotion eludes the county, there is no doubt that head of cricket John Morris has pulled off a coup.

Morris had competition for the South African once he announced his retirement from international cricket because of his homeland's quota system.

But Langeveldt opted for a two-year contract on a Kolpak ticket at the County Ground and has turned out to be one of the club's best-ever imports.

Like all top bowlers, the 33-year-old always wants the ball and he has also been a considerable influence on the younger players.

''Charl has been a fantastic professional cricketer since he arrived here,'' Morris said.

''The way he is in the dressing room, the way he goes about his business, the way he trains, the way he does everything is an example to everybody in the team.

''No-one deserves more praise, or wickets and results than he does. He's been fantastic for this cricket club and I wish we'd had him ten years ago.

''We decided we needed another bowler and he's been tremendous for us in every department. His work ethic is phenomenal, he just turns up and does the job.

''He wants to bowl and he's also been good for the other bowlers as well. He's helped Jon Clare massively and Graham Wagg as well and he's taken over a little bit from Tom Lungley who's had injury problems this year.

''I know there was another county that were after him, Hampshire were desperate to sign him, but he'd made his mind up to come to us and he honoured that.''

Derbyshire have a highly promising young batsman in 18-year-old Dan Redfearn who scored an unbeaten maiden one-day half-century in a thrilling tied Pro40 game against Yorkshire.

It helped Derbyshire bounce back from the humiliation of the county's lowest-ever limited-overs total, 60 against Kent at Canterbury three days earlier.