2023 ANNUAL REPORT

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY CRICKET CLUB 2023 ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS 8 made sufficient provision in our reserves to absorb the impact of such a season, as our Treasurer Paul Ellis explains within this Annual Report. Looking forward, our ambition to further redevelopTrent Bridge, primarily through a scheme to enhance our Pavilion facilities, will require a considered package of funding to bring it to fruition.The cornerstone of this will be the hosting of major matches, and we have a compelling award to 2031 that includes two men’s Ashes Tests. We’re urgently pressing ahead with these plans in order to future-proof our facilities amid the demands of 21st century sport, with pre- planning applications having been submitted at the time of going to press. Maintaining our Pavilion’s inimitable charm and character is a top priority, and the role of your committee and the executive team has been to balance both operational and aesthetic requirements in the discussions held to date. It will be a financial and operational challenge to commission and deliver this project, but we can never afford to stand still. My two decades in the construction trade have shown me that, if you are sensitive and considerate, you can breathe new life into the most historic structures. We’re fortunate to have such a beautiful building to work with, and we hope that we’re able to deliver a facility that you can be proud of. Reflecting on our cricketing summer, I wish to thank Peter Moores and our outgoing captain Steven Mullaney for their contributions in marshalling a retention of Division One status in our first season back at that level. While we all wish to see the side competing for honours at the top of the table, a sixth-place finish in a division of some pedigree is not an achievement without merit. In the Vitality Blast, there were moments to savour from the likes of Joe Clarke, Colin Munro,Tom Moores and the box-office Shaheen Shah Afridi. I hope that the Outlaws’ return to the quarter-finals last year can act as a springboard for our developing white-ball side. We continue to see the emergence of young talent in our Metro Bank One Day Cup team too – and while we fell short in 2023, the experience that those players gained last summer can only aid their progression as Nottinghamshire cricketers. As we look to the future, I’d also like to take a moment to recognise the Nottinghamshire careers of three of our most successful performers, who all left Trent Bridge last summer. Jake Ball progressed from boy to man in the Nottinghamshire player pathway – something which gives “WE’RE URGENTLY PRESSING AHEAD WITH PLANS TO FUTURE-PROOF OUR FACILITIES AMID THE DEMANDS OF 21ST CENTURY SPORT.” Andy Hunt