National Counties Pair Join First-Class Ranks

Staffordshire seamer Rory Haydon and Bedfordshire batter Amrit Basra are the latest players to graduate from National Counties to first-class cricket, each having signed a short-term contract with Derbyshire.

Both impressed on trial with Derbyshire in Second XI cricket this season and have now signed contracts for the forthcoming Metro Bank One Day Cup which will give them the opportunity to press their claims for longer-term contracts.

Haydon and Basra have both used National Counties cricket as productive way of finding their way back into the first-class ranks having been released from academies earlier in their careers.

Haydon, 22, was released by Warwickshire at the end of the 2023 season but his form with Staffordshire over the last two seasons and his performances for the Challengers representative side brought him to Derbyshire’s attention.

Basra, 23, first played for Bedfordshire in 2021 while he was on Northamptonshire’s Academy and he has continued to play for them in all formats since he left Wantage Road at the end of that season.

Basra has since had trials with Kent, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Leicestershire before being given another opportunity by Derbyshire.

Basra’s most recent appearances for Berkshire came in a National Counties T20 double-header against Berkshire at Wargrave earlier this month.

Haydon and Basra will increase the number of players with National Counties experience currently registered - already in excess of 150 – and they follow Cambridgeshire batter Nikhil Gorantla who joined County Champions Surrey on a two-year contract last week.