Nottinghamshire will resume their chase for the LV= County Championship title this week with a fixture at Wantage Road.
Their hosts, Northamptonshire, have struggled to make the step up to Division One, but Andre Adams is keen to make sure his side don’t slip up if they are to catch Yorkshire at the top of the table.
Coming back into the competition and playing the side that’s not performed particularly well, it’s crucial that we pick up as many points as we can,” he said.
“They’ve played poor cricket this year, we beat them at Trent Bridge because they let it slip a little and they’ll be desperate to pull a win off against someone, and hopefully that’s not us.
"It’s vital to stay in touch with whoever is leading. That’s the important thing for us now. Not so much looking around us but actually putting pressure on so that everyone else has to chase, we have to be looking to finish each session as well as we can."
Nottinghamshire currently just five points behind Yorkshire at the summit of the LV= CC Division One table. With this the first match without overseas signing Peter Siddle since his departure earlier in the season, Ajmal Shahzad has been included in the matchday squad.
When you have a chance at the title every game is important. We have to start again the way that we finished the last four day game,” said Adams
“Not having Sidds will be a big loss but whovever takes his place has to step up and fill the role he has vacated.
“It has been tough this year for the bowlers in that there has been real competition for places. When AJmal has missed out, its normally for Fletch, and vice Versa.
“It’s a very healthy thing to have a squad of bowlers who can challenge. Our problems last year were with taking 20 wickets, and we seem to have improved on that his year with the help of Peter, and one of the bowlers will have to fill that hole.”
Nottinghamshire’s last four-day outing saw them overcome Lancashire inside three days in Liverpool inside three days in mid-July. With a red-ball break amounting to four weeks, a rested Adams is ready to step back into battle, and is confident that his teammates will adapt from a period of white-ball cricket quickly.
“I’ve had a chance to reconnect with the family which is important, especially after three months away from two young boys, they get restless and they need some attention from their dad,” he said.
“They’re probably sick of that after a month, so this is timed quite nicely.
“Over here you play so much of all the formats you get used to it. Everyone has their red ball game and their white ball game.
"It might feel a little serene for those involved in white ball cricket to go back to the red ball game, or even boring but I think its those who become the most boring the quickest are the most important.”
Nottinghamshire squad to face Northamptonshire: Alex Hales, Steven Mullaney, Michael Lumb, James Taylor, Samit Patel, Riki Wessels, Chris Read, James Franklin, Ajmal Shahzad, Luke Fletcher, Harry Gurney, Gary Keedy, Andre Adams.