Nottinghamshire will give first class debuts to young seamers Jake Ball and Brett Hutton when they face MCC in the season-opening first class fixture which begins on Sunday.
Both have impressed in the three practice sessions held so far in Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
Explaining the selections of 18 year old Hutton, Noon said, “Brett was a late replacement into the party but since we have been here he has impressed everyone and been the pick of the bowlers with the pink ball. If we were selecting on merit then he deserves his chance. Strange things can happen on debuts – they can go one of two ways but we are very confident that he’ll do well.”
Ball, 20, has played a couple of one-day matches for the first team but this will be his first opportunity in the four-day side and Noon believes he is ready. “Jake has worked with the ECB through the winter and has got better and better each time he has bowled here. The make-up of the side has had to be altered slightly with Ben Phillips and Graeme White dropping out before we left England but he deserves his selection.”
Charlie Shreck is the unlucky paceman to miss out, though Noon believes he will nevertheless benefit greatly from the work he will put in over the next few days.
“Charlie has done exceptionally well to be where he is after having back surgery in the winter. He has progressed really well but has only been bowling for around 10 days. Although the other lads haven’t done much more bowling they at least have been able to work on their fitness.
“We have no reservations over his ability to last the four days but we believe he will get more benefit out of working with Mike Hendrick here and ensuring he is fit and ready to go for the Surrey friendly on April 5th. It was a tough decision but we want to make sure we can give Mick (Newell) another fit seamer to call upon for the start of the championship season.”
Nottinghamshire team: Chris Read (captain), Neil Edwards, Mark Wagh, Alex Hales, Samit Patel, Ali Brown, Steven Mullaney, Paul Franks, Luke Fletcher, Brett Hutton and Jake Ball.