Skipper Jayne Allsopp is confident her side can earn promotion at this year's AEGON Winter County Cup – after being spoilt for choice about who to pick for her team.
Allsopp said she had 20 players to choose from to take with her to Sheffield next week and was delighted she could nominate the maximum of 10 players, including herself, to represent the county.
It was a different story for Derbyshire's ladies team four months ago, when other commitments left them with only six players for the AEGON Summer County Cup, at Worthing.
Allsopp said she had taken the opportunity to pick some of the most experienced players for the winter squad, as her side aim to move out of Division 4B.
Last year, Derbyshire narrowly missed out on promotion after winning two matches but failing to take the third.
Player Jenny Batty was in charge of the team but retired shortly afterwards, before Allsopp took on the role in time for the summer competition.
She said she was looking forward to taking charge of her first Winter County Cup team.
Allsopp said: "We're are in a much better position than the summer and it's great that we had 20 people wanting to play for Derbyshire – it's really good for the sport in the county.
"And it was a difficult decision to make. All the juniors wanted to play but we've not actually got one in the team.
"I felt we needed to go with experience. I know the juniors are good at the singles but we've got doubles matches to play as well.
"And, even though they're not juniors, some of our team are only just 18 so they will still be good for the singles, while the older ones can play the doubles.
"I'm certainly hopeful we can play all 10 members of the team every day and I'm really hopeful we can get promoted."
Derbyshire's team comprises Allsopp, Ena Ankutse, Jenny Batty, Sarah Allan, Kathryn Cook, Naomi Fellows, Amy Harris, Aggie Hau, Roisin Mullins and Gemma Praditngam.
In July's County Week tournament, Cook, Fellows, Hau and Mullins also featured in the team, with Ankutse and Praditngam joining the squad later in the week.
The rest replace Chantelle Stamp and Lauren Trigg, who made their debuts for Derbyshire in the summer, while Allsopp joins the squad after previously being ineligible to play.
This was because she had represented Nottinghamshire 12 months before.
Allsopp said: "I'm looking forward to playing and it will be nice to have Sarah and Jenny back. They were out at County week but are obviously very experienced and Jenny used to be the captain.
"Amy hasn't been in the team for about five years but is really getting back into it and also has a lot of experience and Gemma has a world doubles ranking, so she'll be great in the doubles.
"Some of the others have moved on to university and are playing tennis regularly so they're getting a lot of practice, which is good.
"But we've been practising hard for the past month and all the players, including the ones who wanted to play and weren't chosen, have been coming along.
"It's been a fantastic effort from everyone and, with them making all the practices, it looks like we'll have a really strong team."
Play at the Winter County Cup will start on Friday, with Derbyshire scheduled to play Gloucestershire, Somerset and Avon during the three-day competition.
Each day, teams will play nine rubbers to determine the winner, with six singles and three doubles matches.
The team finishing top of the division will be promoted for next year's competition, while the group scoring the lowest number of points will be relegated.