Matt Wood is looking to put his injury nightmares behind him and make a case for selection with a strong performance against Oxford UCCE.

The 28-year-old making his first appearance for the first team following two separate ankle injuries which ruled him out for the first two months of the season.

After damaging ankle ligaments on the first day of pre-season, the right-hander had just returned to fitness with a century in his second match for the Second XI only for a different problem to rear its head on the same ankle.

But the opener is now 100 per cent fit and is conscious of the opportunity he has to push for a place in the Notts line-up in the Twenty20 Cup next week and the LV County Championship.

He said: “The Oxford game is an important opportunity for me to get some runs and put my case forward to play at some point soon. We’ve been struggling a bit with the bat lately so I need to show some form and push for selection.

“I was on crutches for three weeks at the start of the season and had played two Second XI matches when I developed a second problem. Fluid on the ankle had to be drained but I’m now all healed up, after what’s felt like a long period of time out.

“While we’ve not had any Second XI fixtures during the ICC World Twenty20, I’ve been practicing regularly and getting some runs in club cricket for Plumtree in the Premier League.

“I’m looking forward to getting out in the middle and hopefully putting some big runs on the board.”

Director of Cricket Mick Newell has stressed the importance of the match for his batsmen, and wants them all to get some good time out in the middle to find their form.

He said: “I want to see all the batsmen making runs and ideally in two innings. It’s a practice match and with four Twenty20 Cup games to follow, the batting spots in those games are completely up for grabs.”

Squad:
Will Jefferson, Bilal Shafayat (wkt), Matt Wood, Alex Hales, Samit Patel, Akhil Patel, Kevin O’Brien, Paul Franks (capt), Andy Carter, Mark Footitt, Jason Brown.