For Nottinghamshire, things really can only get better

BOB WILLIS TROPHY PREVIEW: After their dreadful red-ball season in 2019, the truncated 2020 campaign offers Notts a chance of redemption, and an opportunity to look towards the future

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Ins: Tom Barber (Middlesex), Sol Budinger, Haseeb Hameed (Lancashire), Peter Trego (Somerset)

Outs: Paul Coughlin (Durham), Nick Kimber (Surrey), Jake Libby (Worcestershire), Luke Wood (Lancashire)

Fixture list: TBC

Remind me what happened last year?

In sporting terms, a disaster. That one of Nottinghamshire’s toughest seasons in memory was being captured in an online documentary series, All In, only added to the sense of a glossy failure. Presumably most at Trent Bridge would rather filming have taken place in a more successful, harmonious season.

The signings of Ben Slater, Ben Duckett, Joe Clarke and Zak Chappell – the best young cricketer from each of the neighbouring Division Two counties – was supposed to herald Notts’ assault on all fronts. To not win a Championship game and finish with just 67 points – a record low in the two-division era – was stuff out of their worst nightmares.

Clarke has the potential to be a Test batsman one day, but the start of his Nottinghamshire career was overshadowed by the retrial of Alex Hepburn, in which he had to give evidence. The fact Clarke still scored three of Notts’ six Championship centuries underlines his class.

After a promising start, Slater and Duckett tailed off; Chappell ended up on loan to Gloucestershire in search of first-team cricket.

The white-ball campaigns were a welcome distraction, and Notts reached the semi-finals in both. They were upended by Somerset’s Roelof van der Merwe in the Royal London Cup semi in May, but should certainly have reached the T20 final. In the first match of finals day at Edgbaston, Duckett was unable to collect six runs off the last over.

The reality is that all these young players can come again.

What’s happened over the winter?

Presumably some soul-searching.

If Stuart Broad is gradually pushed out of the Test picture, then at least Notts will be able to call on him for two more seasons before that seemingly inevitable move into the Sky box.

Mohammad Abbas – a Pakistani seemingly born to bowl on county pitches – signed up to move over from Leicestershire, and Notts were hoping to still involve him in some of the Bob Willis Trophy around the Pakistan Test series.

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Who’s arrived and who’s left?

After Notts’ difficult 2020, Luke Wood, Paul Coughlin (who had an injury-plagued two years) and Jake Libby have all sought opportunities elsewhere.

The highest-profile signing in the English game is that of Haseeb Hameed; let us hope that he succeeds, and the game avoids an incredible sadness. This is still the young man who scored two fifties in three Tests in the cauldron of India.

Hameed is a long-term signing; the arrival of Peter Trego at 39 can merely be a short-term limited-overs stopgap to inject some toughness into the dressing-room.

Notts failed in their pursuit of South Africa allrounder Dwaine Pretorius after Graeme Smith intervened to persuade him not to defect. But it looks as though another Proteas medium pacer, Dane Paterson, could join as a Kolpak before his deal is converted into a regular overseas arrangement from 2021. Things must be serious, because Notts have tended to avoid making Kolpak signings.

Who will be the key men in 2020?

Arguably, the coach Peter Moores and the captain Steven Mullaney in keeping the squad grounded. If you have a big, talented squad, the reality is not all the players can be in the first-team at the same time. There is the sense of a little impatience – understandable in the T20 age – among some Notts players.

Despite Notts’ reputation in one-day cricket, it can be a hard place to open the batting against the red Dukes ball. That suggests Hameed and whoever else partners him at the top will be crucial in setting the tone. If Jake Ball regains form, Notts should have the seamers to compete – they just need the platform of runs to help them.

What can we expect from this team this season?

Though there will be a sense of itching to get down to the business of a Championship promotion campaign in 2021, the fact is that Notts, as one of the strongest and better-resourced counties in the northern region, should be in the running alongside Lancashire and Yorkshire to win the pool.

Notts will hope to take advantage of playing three of their five matches at Trent Bridge, including the opening match, which is a Derbyshire home game but played in Nottingham due to the Incora Ground’s use as a biosecure international training camp.

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