2020 ANNUAL REPORT

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY CRICKET CLUB 2020 ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS 20 Joe enjoyed a superb campaign, but he was far from the only standout performer. Our overseas players showed their undoubted class; it was great to have ImadWasim back with us, and Dan Christian not only led the side brilliantly, but also made defining contributions in the semi-final and final. Inside 12 months, Jake Ball went from being on the fringes of our white-ball side to being the leading wicket-taker in the country. It was a turnaround that would have been surprising, were it not for the work- rate that we see Jake display day-in, day-out, and the talent that we all know he possesses. Ben Duckett, meanwhile, showed real maturity in trusting his own method and being the calmest of performers in a run chase. For Ben to hit the winning runs, and complete an unbeaten half-century, to take us over the line in the Vitality Blast final was the most fitting of conclusions to the season. In the red-ball game, I feel we’ve made real strides.We played well for significant portions of all five games, scored heavily in each first innings, and were in the hunt for victory on the final day of each fixture. We have to give huge credit to Derbyshire for chasing down 365 in our first game, but we all realise that theYorkshire game was a huge missed opportunity.We had a great chance to win that match, but just didn’t take it.We have to use that as motivation, find a confidence and belief in ourselves, and use that to push us over the line next year. In those BobWillis Trophy games, we saw an opening partnership between Haseeb Hameed and Ben Slater begin to flourish, while Zak Chappell made huge improvements and Joey Evison made a tremendous impact before his injury. And, of course, we saw the same calibre of performances from Clarke and Duckett that we were later to enjoy in the Blast. It’s been a difficult few years in the First-Class game, but we made significant improvements in 2020. Our performances were better, as was our team spirit – when you hear our squad talk about their togetherness as a unit, that is much more than mere lip service.The challenge now is to seize on those improvements, and build on them next year. There is no doubt that we’ll benefit hugely from keeping this core of players together for the next few years.The likes of Haseeb Hameed, Ben Slater, Joe Clarke, Ben Duckett, Zak Chappell and Matthew Carter have all committed to their club for at least two more years.They’ll continue to enjoy the wisdom and pedigree of our more long-serving players, with Steven Mullaney, Samit Patel, Jake Ball, Alex Hales and Harry Gurney all signing new deals. We do recognise, however, that our stocks were a little thin on the ground at times last year – particularly when it came to seam bowling. Circumstances dictated that we couldn’t enjoy the services of Stuart Broad or Mohammad Abbas, while injuries to Jake Ball, Luke Fletcher and Joey Evison reduced our options further.With that in mind, it is great to welcome Brett Hutton back to the club which nurtured him, and to see Toby Pettman take his first steps in the professional game with us. Quite simply, you can never have too many seam bowlers, and the depth of quality we are building in our reserves will help us to navigate a busy 2021 schedule. Away from the first team, the fact that we were able to stage a good