2023 ANNUAL REPORT

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY CRICKET CLUB 2023 ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS 30 The results of our senior team speak for themselves; we reached the finals of both the Charlotte Edwards Cup and the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy having enjoyed a 10-game unbeaten streak – the longest of any team in the country, male or female – from the start of the summer until 10 June. Elsewhere, our Academy won the Regional Academy Festival at Millfield, and we set in motion the first Emerging Player Programme (EPP) cycle. Such success on and off the field came as no accident; the transition to a new base allowed us to revisit and develop our team’s culture. We set our values in stone in the form of The Blaze Code – a philosophy which acts as a thread of continuity from Kirstie Gordon as captain through to the newest players on the EPP. There can be no doubting, meanwhile, that we have reaped the rewards of being embedded in a cricketing environment. To look out of the window and see the stands of Trent Bridge, to rub shoulders with Nottinghamshire players and backroom staff, and to receive a wealth of administrative support – all have helped in our quest to become a more professional outfit. But it has been the way in which we have embraced, and been embraced by, all our partners across the East Midlands – which includes Leices- tershire, Derbyshire and Lincoln- shire – that has allowed us to grow. Our relationships have never been better, and the past year has taught us that, together, we are stronger. It is fair to say our performances in the Charlotte Edwards Cup and the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy exceeded the expectations we set at the start of the year, but they came as no surprise with the personnel we possess. We have had a crop of players maturing over a number of years, and many had their best seasons to date – no doubt a product of the time that they have been able to devote to the game with the increase in the number of professional contracts. Our rebranding as a region over the last 12 months – a process triggered by the move toTrent Bridge as a base – has been an overwhelmingly positive step. J AM E S C U T T THE BLAZE REPORT