IT was slightly misleading to suggest that Derbyshire were looking for a replacement for Charl Langeveldt when the South African bowler was forced to pull out of his second season with the county because of a shoulder injury.

In truth, they were always highly unlikely to find another like him – a veteran leader and a master of the art of swing. What they were looking for was another bowler who could give them an option in their attack for the rest of this season.

The man they found was Nantie Hayward, who is from the same country as Langeveldt but there is very little resemblance between the two beyond that.

Hayward also has an international pedigree, with 54 wickets in 16 Tests and 21 in as many one-day internationals and, at the age of 32, can bring plenty of experience to the County Ground but his stock in trade is to bowl faster than most other bowlers are able.

Extra pace can be such an asset to a team and Jamie Pipe, Derbyshire's wicketkeeper, saw at first hand how destructive Hayward could be when they were team-mates together at Worcestershire.

That was the 2003 season, when the South African was their overseas signing and claimed 67 first-class wickets in a promotion season.

"Throughout my career, I've kept to Shoaib Akhtar and quite a few of the fast guys but Nantie, in that season, bowled as quick as anybody I've ever kept to," said Pipe (pictured).

"It was the season Worcestershire won Division Two of the County Championship and Nantie was a massive part.

"Steve Rhodes was injured and I came into the team as a player that hadn't been around that much. He was very supportive with me and really got behind all his team-mates.

"I can't speak too highly of him. He was a terrific bloke to have around the dressing room and every time he was on the park, he gave 100 per cent.

"He bowled some great spells, important spells, especially towards the back end of the year, when you would expect the long season to take its toll on bowlers, but it was sometimes difficult to get the ball out of his hands. That was fantastic to see."

Hayward also has the reputation of being a little combustible – dare we say, a typical redhead – who would not hesitate to let the batsmen know what he thought of them and Kadeer Ali, at Chesterfield this week with Gloucestershire and another former Worcestershire team-mate that season, saw plenty of that.

"Him and Waggy (Graham Wagg) will be quite a fiery attack, I think," said Kadeer. "He gave me a few bumpers in the nets, which I still remember.

"Sometimes his fieriness on the pitch stayed with him off the pitch and you would keep out of his way then. You have to be quite open-minded with him because he is a different character but I always got on well with him.

"He's very similar to Waggy in other ways as well because he will run in all day and bowl his heart out with good pace. And he swung the ball.

"When he first came in, he had a lot of raw pace and probably not too much else to go with it but he'll be a better bowler now with a lot of experience of playing in county cricket and he will use that experience to take wickets rather than just relying on raw pace.

"He will help all the young guys at Derby. He's a good man and I think he will be a good signing."

One area that may concern Derbyshire is Hayward's lack of recent high quality action.

Because of his connections with the Indian Cricket League, he has not played any first-class cricket since his one match for Hampshire last season, when he came over chiefly to play for the Hawks in the Twenty20 Cup.

That will, at least, mean he arrives nothing if not fresh and eager to get back into bowling to a high standard of batsmen again.

As Pipe recalls, the competitive instincts of the player could never be questioned, no matter who he was preparing to bowl to.

"We had a pre-season match where we split the squad into two teams. I was due to open the batting for team A and Nantie was bowling for team B," he added.

"I was sitting down before the game and I felt somebody tugging at my shirt. It was Nantie and he said, 'I hear you're going to be opening the batting.'

"I said, 'That's right,' and he stared straight back at me and said, 'How are you at playing bouncers?'

"I kind of grinned back at him, looking to see if he was half-joking but I could see that he wasn't.

"He steamed in at me and I made the mistake of hitting the second ball off him for six. That was like waving a red rag to a bull and that was a really aggressive spell he bowled at me there – and I was his team-mate!

"He's certainly a good man to have on your side but I'm not sure I'd be that keen to play against him again."