He played Second XI and Under-25 cricket for the next four years before breaking into Derbyshire's senior team.
He made his first appearance as a lower-middle-order batsman in 1982, and played in the County Championship consistently until 1988, when through injury he suffered a decline in his bowling form and found himself out of the first XI.
He continued for a season in the second team, until in 1989 the injury forced his retirement from the first-class game.
In 1989 he started playing for Norfolk, in the Minor Counties Championship and, in the final game of his career, as an opening batsman in the NatWest Trophy.
Throughout his career with Derbyshire, he played as a middle-order batsman, and a consistent bowler, with a first-class average with the ball peaking at 27 in 1985.