THE whirlwind start to life with Derbyshire for Wayne Madsen will take another turn when he gets the chance to captain the county during their tour to Barbados.

It was midway through last season, during a Championship match at Northampton, that John Morris said he was considering a change at the top of the batting order for the next game, against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham.

The head of cricket said he was adding Madsen to the squad.

He allowed my blank expression to pass without comment but, nevertheless, the conversation was swiftly followed by a return to the press box to trawl the internet for an inkling of who this new bloke was.

We were all soon to discover a little more about Madsen.

A fine all-round sportsman in his native South Africa – he had played more hockey internationals than first-class cricket matches before coming to England – Madsen made an unbeaten 170 at Cheltenham.

It was the highest score by a player on his Championship debut for Derbyshire and was followed before the season was over by two more centuries and three other scores of 70-plus.

Madsen could barely have dreamed of a better start to his county career and even with the benefit of a few months back in South Africa to think it over, it still all seems a little unreal.

He is now facing another development to get his head around.

While Chris Rogers finishes the season with Victoria in Australia, Madsen is to be one of three players – alongside Greg Smith and Garry Park – to take a turn leading the side in Barbados.

The 26-year-old does have previous experience and admits he had already given leading Derbyshire some thought – but didn't anticipate it would happen quite yet.

"It crossed my mind," he said. "I didn't think it might come this quickly but I have thought about it at certain stages and I would be keen to be captain one day.

"Last season almost went like a blur. It's been good to have the winter to reflect on what's happened because it was a roller coaster.

"It was good to have three months off to look back and to plan ahead as well.

"The first thing for me is carrying on from last season and making sure I establish myself properly, then I'll see where it goes from there but it's definitely an ambition of mine to be captain of Derbyshire.

"I've captained KwaZulu Natal in South Africa for a couple of seasons and I've captained my club sides in South Africa and over here as well, so I'm used to it.

"Hopefully, if everything goes well, one day it will happen for me at Derbyshire.

"This tour is a great opportunity to show what I can do.

"It will be a good challenge and it's exciting. I'm looking forward to it."

Madsen did take the chance to play a little cricket while he was back in South Africa, scoring a few hundreds and averaging around 80 in half a season with his old club, Berea Rovers.

The hope is he can bring that sort of run-scoring form to the County Ground again this year and avoid the lull that occasionally does follow a player's dynamic debut season – the dreaded second-year syndrome.

"A lot of people have mentioned that but I'm not worried about it," he added.

"For me, it's all about getting down and working.

"I'm not thinking this could be second-year syndrome, this is a new start and I'll be getting down to playing like I did at the end of last season.

"Mentally, I believe I'm strong enough to get through anything like that.

"You always go through ups and downs but it's about how you bounce back and I can get through those challenges.

"There is a pressure but you have to play with pressure if you want to play at the top and I want to play at the top, so you have to learn to deal with it."