After three years at the helm, Chris Read has every right to be proud of his achievements as club captain.
Consecutive runners-up spots in 2008 and 2009 in the LV= County Championship, the club’s priority competition, undoubtedly represented a reasonable return.
But the former England glove man wasn’t satisfied. Like Mick Newell, he wanted success to be measured in trophies and by that yard stick, winning the title in 2010 was a defining moment in his tenure.
“I felt that we were in the title hunt from the beginning of the season and winning four from four was an extraordinary start,” said Read, the county’s leading championship run scorer last season with 916.
“We knew we were contenders when we were leading the way but we don’t like to make brash public statements. We were in a good position from quite a long way out but going into the final fixture at Old Trafford we knew we had to play well to achieve something and avoid coming second or third.”
Having blasted out of the blocks, Read highlighted the innings victory over Durham as the clearest signal that there was potential for success.
“Beating them so comprehensively at home was a key result and we controlled things from start to finish,” he said.
“It was one of the defining moments of the season and sent a message that we were a force to be reckoned.”
Amongst a myriad of high points (covered on page 22), defeats to Yorkshire at Trent Bridge and Durham at Chester-Le-Street were the undoubted lows. A clear lead evaporated and Nottinghamshire’s ability to perform under pressure was called into question.
“There was never any complacency and we went into the Yorkshire game having prepared exactly the same result pitch that had helped us to make such a strong start to the season,” said Read.
“I would do nothing different if I had the chance again because we believed that our form at home was good and we wanted to win the game and make the title all but secure. Anyone looking on from the outside would see that we were bowled out for 59 and draw their own conclusions and lots of people have said that the total was inexcusable but I maintain that had we won the toss then we could have run through Yorkshire for less than a hundred.
“Durham away was disappointing and I think I was guilty of devaluing the draw. Durham weren’t in title contention and it was too easy to write off the draw points on offer as insignificant and the same could be said of Essex away where we didn’t fight hard enough. We had two sessions to bat at Durham and really should have done enough to come away from a draw which we threw away with a poor session.”
As the final round of matches progressed, Nottinghamshire’s title odds fluctuated wildly. The saturated Old Trafford outfield was crippled by persistent rain and when play resumed on day two, it was unbearably halted because of sunlight reflecting from a metallic roof.
“I’m always philosophical about the weather because sometimes it can help you and sometimes it can hinder you but we arrived on day three with a fair forecast and never got out of the pavilion,” said Read.
“I started to lose my marbles because it made securing the points that we needed very difficult.
“Mick had an eye on what was happening elsewhere and there were two options; agree a run chase or chase the bonus points.
“Trying to get to 400 seemed like a big ask and we ran the risk of putting ourselves out of contention if we didn’t make a good start. Adam Voges has a lot of captaincy experience and he shared my view that securing a run chase might be the way forward.
“Discussions went on well into the evening and having slept on the options, our opinion changed and we arrived at the ground with a plan to chase the bonus points.
“Then we were told that the start would be delayed and that almost threw things in the other direction again. I went to speak to Mark Chilton and Glenn Chapple but we couldn’t agree a satisfactory run chase and we decided that despite having lost an hour, we still had time to secure the 311 runs at five an over and take three wickets.”
Read and Newell had already decided to drop Samit Patel to number eight but with quick runs required, they knew they had to promote him to his preferred middle order spot.
“In this situation, I felt that Samit was the right man to give us impetus because his one day form had been excellent and the state of the game meant that he could bring his one day approach to a four day match,” said Read.
“Scoring 311 runs in one day was a huge ask and the partnership between Samit and Adam Voges was vital.
“Franksy and I had a word with Adam afterwards and said ‘that must be the best hundred you’ve ever scored’ but he looked at us knowingly and just said ‘second best!’”
When the partnership ended, Nottinghamshire wobbled. From 325-4, they fell to 390-9 and Darren Pattinson and Ryan Sidebottom were left to navigate to 400.
“I like to get ready to keep wicket towards the end of our innings and I started to put my whites on when we were eight down,” said Read.
“When the ninth wicket fell I didn’t know what to do. One wicket would throw everything out of the window because getting six wickets in the remaining time would have been unrealistic.
“Darren and Ryan’s partnership was certainly a nerve-wracking time and because we were playing for the title it was as important as Samit and Adam’s contribution.
“Thakfully they got us over the line and securing 400 runs when we were nine down heightened the sense of elation and relief and my job in the turn around was to get the lads together and make it plain that the job was only half done.
“We needed three wickets and we needed to stay calm but I always felt that our seam attack would get the ball in the right areas and cause them problems.”
Nottinghamshire needed just 30 balls to secure three wickets and the title. Ryan Sidebottom made the initial breakthrough and, fittingly, player of the season Andre Adams accounted for Chilton and Chanderpaul.
“When Andre bowled over the wicket to Shiv, which he never does to left-handers, I turned to Adam Voges and said ‘what’s he doing here?” said Read
“Left-handers hate facing him because he bowls around the wicket and gets it to go away from them as well as in so it seemed a strange tactic but he’s very strong minded and I knew better than to question his approach.
“Andre has shown superb form throughout both of his spells at Notts and this season he finally got the recognition that he deserved. It was fitting that he took the final two wickets because he’d been my go-to man all year and had got us out of several tricky situations.”
As Adams ran aimlessly around the outfield with arms outstretched, Read stayed put and jumped for joy with his slips.
“The whole day was unbelievable and it culminated in seeing the boys go berserk on the field because it meant so much to all of us,” he said.
“I jumped around with Adam and Samit and then we chased Andre and I lost my sunglasses somewhere in the crush. It was pure ecstasy.
“We knew that we hadn’t played great cricket in the final month of the season but the table showed that over the course of the season, we were the best team in the competition. It was a tough year and I was so proud of the guys for going about that final day in the way that they did.”
Allied to four-day success, Nottinghamshire’s upturn in limited overs cricket was another positive factor.
Read admits that he was mentally tired after the 2009 campaign and felt that his role as captain in all formats was having a detrimental affect on his performances.
“I’ve certainly found massive positives by handing the Friends Provident t20 captaincy to Huss and it’s definitely something that I will consider again,” said Read.
“After two years in the job I acknowledged that some of my on-field performances were being compromised and I felt a lot fresher mentally having accepted a break in that particular competition.
“We were mediocre in 2009 in one day cricket and now we’re a force again and it’s great that we’ve done that with the help of young players who have risen to the task really well.
“I thought we had a team that could go on and win the Friends Provident t20 and our form in the group stage was brilliant and we went to Finals Day as one of the form teams.
“We were fully confident of picking up the silverware particularly because our bowling attack was akin to a world eleven. Somerset batted exceptionally well and it was bitterly disappointing that Duckworth-Lewis intervened and we didn’t have a chance to see if we could have won the match. With Dave Hussey established at the crease I would have backed him to help us knock off the runs that we needed to reach the final.”