Steelbacks skipper Willey ready to play his part in developing young talent at Northants

David Willey says he and the other senior players in the Northants squad have got a big part to play in the development of a young and inexperienced playing group at Wantage Road this summer.

And he believes the best way of doing that is for the senior pros to 'bring that little bit of tradition back' by talking to the young players, and taking the time to pass on their own knowledge and experience.

Steelbacks skipper Willey is one of a small band of senior players that remain at Wantage Road, along with the likes of red-ball captain Luke Procter, seam bowler Ben Sanderson, wicket-keeper Lewis McManus and all-rounder Rob Keogh.

The likes of Ricardo Vasconcelos, Saif Zaib, George Bartlett, George Scrimshaw have also been around for a while, but there is then a group who are still in the early stages making their way in the game.

They are teenagers Tiaan Louw, Aadi Sharma, Arush Buchake and Krish Patel, as well as the likes of Raphy Weatherall, Justin Broad, Dom Leech, Gus Miller, Freddie Heldreich and James Sales, who is still only 22.

Former England white ball international Willey, now 35, is more than happy to help new coach Darren Lehmann and play his part in their development at the County Ground.

But he adds that the players have to also be willing to listen.

"There is obviously some great talent here, and they have to learn the game," said Willey, who made his debut as a teenager for Northants back in 2009.

"I think it is on us, as senior players, to help them do that as quickly as possible.

"Boof (Lehmann) will be brilliant with that, and he is really pushing the senior guys to take these boys into the nets to talk about the game and learn about the game.

"That is a bit of a dying art actually, talking about the game and learning about it.

"When I first started, there was still the 12th man and would take the drinks order and then sit in the dressing room and talk about the game.

"Guys come into the dressing room now, they sit on their phone for 20 minutes and then clear off.

"So we are trying to bring that little bit of tradition back of talking about the game and learning about it off the field, and not just in the nets and during the game."

Willey is currently preparing for his 17th season as a professional cricketer, but admits he still gets a buzz of excitement ahead of a new campaign, with the season starting on Friday morning (April 4) when the County host Kent on the Rothesay County Championship.

Due to jet off for a stint in the Pakistan Super League later this month, Willey is going to have to wait until the end of May before he plays for his home town club when he leads out the Steelbacks for their T20 Blast opener against Yorkshire Vikings at Headingley.

But he is in a positive mood ahead of that North Group campaign, and is hopeful the team can this year go at least one better than last season when they were beaten at home by Somerset in the quarter-finals.

"There is energy around the group, and the support we have here is fantastic," said Willey.

"We look forward to seeing everybody in and around the ground, and hopefully the performances will come and it is a great year for Northants.

"This is a great place when there is a full house and we are playing T20 cricket, it is awesome.

"We will be hoping to build on last season and hopefully going a little further, but we have an exciting group of players and hopefully it is going to be a great year."