The fast bowler coaching others to find 'own pace within'

Few people, let alone cricketers, have been through as much as Dustin Melton.

The Zimbabwe-born seamer, raised in South Africa, has had his fair share of trauma and personal tragedy off the field and seen his hopes of a first-class career on it ruined by injury.

Having been adopted when he was three, Melton learned his biological mother had been murdered, lost his father to Covid and a school friend to suicide in the space of a few months.

It is the measure of the 31-year-old that he has not only rebuilt his life but now wants to use that experience to help shape the development and potential careers of future fast bowlers.

Melton, who took 19 wickets in 11 first-class games for Derbyshire between 2019 and 2021, plays for Shrewsbury in the Birmingham & District Premier League and runs his own coaching business, called the Pace Within Project.

"The whole idea behind it is that I feel that people have their own pace within themselves," he told BBC Radio Shropshire's Cricket Show.

"I'm just trying to help any cricketer to try to find their own pace not necessarily trying to push people beyond a limit that they are capable of.

"I feel like I read people quite well and I'm in tune with people's emotions and understandings. So it's trying not to overdo yourself but bring that level of understanding to what you're capable of now and where we can get to.

"It might be quick, it might be long, but stick to the journey."

Although open to all players, unsurprisingly Melton says he is particular keen to encourage youngsters who want to bowl fast, placing an emphasis on "keeping their actions healthy".

A key strategy is telling his students to run their own race - something shaped by his time coming through the ranks in South African youth and domestic cricket, where he rubbed shoulders with players including future Proteas pace stars Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and all-rounder Corbin Bosch.

"Corbin took a lot longer to get to where he is now, whereas Kagi was put straight into the deep end quite early - and obviously, his progression was a lot quicker but they're both there playing at the same level now," Melton said.

"I look at that as a really good example of the fact that yes, your opportunity doesn't come now, but it doesn't mean it won't come later.

"It doesn't mean that you don't stop learning, you don't stop trying to get better.

"At the moment, I feel like the coaches are more there as a facilitator and don't really get the opportunity to work one-to-one with someone in a more intimate level where we can start ironing out technical aspects that really do matter.

"Especially when you start getting older, and your body's going through various changes, just trying to make sure that you're fit and strong and your action's in a healthy position to prevent injuries from kicking in later on."

The debilitating effect of injuries is something Melton knows all too well.

During a trial at Derbyshire in 2019, he tore his side in a second XI game against Worcestershire but his four wickets that day impressed and, once fit again, he eventually earned a contract - and a first-class debut against the touring Australians.

Surgery to remove excess bone growth in his ankle followed but when the joint gave way again during a training session in 2021, Melton's frustration boiled over.

After years of toil against injury, and the personal devastation at the loss of his birth mother, whom he never got to meet, and adoptive father saw him unload his pain in an emotional social media post that went viral.

Melton described the response he got from that as "quite overwhelming".

"It's something I didn't actually really expect," he said.

"I think when I sat there dealing with all the raw emotion I just felt like there were other people going through what I was and I felt like it would have been an opportunity to see true, real emotion that, in particular, men don't really show very often.

"I thought it would be an opportunity to just be like 'it's okay everyone does suffer a little bit and it's okay to express yourself'.

"I had plenty of team-mates say 'thank you for opening up I've really been struggling with various anxieties' - whether it be performance anxiety or just their own general mental health and it's now got me to a point where I've gone and got help to try to figure this out.

"I think if you don't offload some of that it's going to catch up to you at some point and, since then, I've had many conversations with a lot of people throughout the last four or five years and it's really nice to know that it's helped some people open up."

Melton was released by Derbyshire in 2022 - something he said "hurt quite a bit" - and after more surgery, this time on his elbow, went back into club cricket in the local leagues.

"It was a tough period and it took me a couple years to get past that but I think I'm on the other side of that now," he said.

Now with Shrewsbury, Melton said "fell in love with the town" soon after joining early last year and said he thinks he will stay in the club scene for the foreseeable future.

"Obviously it was quite nerve wracking coming into the league and knowing it's quite competitive, which I do feel is a step up from the Derbyshire League," he said.

"Being fiercely competitive, I try to help instil that into the group. We started really well and had a really good season last year. So I'm loving every moment of it.

"There was a part of me that thought I might just give it [first-class cricket] one last crack to see if I could reinvigorate something deeper inside of me but I think that time has come and gone.

"I loved and relished every opportunity I got playing professionally. It's everything I ever wanted and dreamed of so I can pat myself on the back for actually doing that.

"I look back on fond memories, even though it was plagued by various adversities.

"Now I'm looking towards my future, which seems to be paving something quite fruitful and quite exciting."