Nottinghamshire will welcome Michael Lumb back into their squad to face Lancashire in the LV= County Championship this weekend.
The batsman, who injured his arm in the match against Middlesex, looks likely to return to action in place of Australian Phil Jaques, whose time with Nottinghamshire has come to an end for the summer.
“We always had this game in mind for Lumb to return, knowing that Phil Jaques will have played his last game for us this season,” said Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire’s Director of Cricket.
“He’s an experienced player now, who has played a lot of matches for Nottinghamshire.
“He’ll slot back in nicely, and hopefully use this as a platform to find form and score runs for the rest of the season.”
This will be Nottinghamshire’s last LV= County Championship fixture ahead of a return for 50-over cricket in the Royal London One-Day Cup.
With the county currently lying second in the Division One table, only five points behind leaders Yorkshire, who drew with Durham in the week. Nottinghamshire missed this round of fixtures, and will be rejuvenated ahead of their contest in the North West.
“We needed a break, after five weeks containing a lot of cricket,” said Newell.
“We’ve had a fairly steady couple of weeks, keeping sharp with some Twenty20 matches and we need to get a positive result this weekend.
“It’s our last Championship match before the break for 50-over cricket and we want to stay in the hunt.”
Nottinghamshire will take to the field in Liverpool this week, Lancashire using Aigburth Cricket Club to stage the match.
“It’s a ground that has produced positive results in the past,” he said.
“There’s a bit in it for the bowlers, but historically there have been high scores for the batsmen.
“It’s a nice ground, and we don’t have one here. It’s a pleasant experience, and we tend to get looked after very well.
“Often these games are the ground’s biggest of the season.”
Nottinghamshire squad to face Lancashire (from): Steven Mullaney, Alex Hales, Michael Lumb, James Taylor, Samit Patel, Riki Wessels, Chris Read, Peter Siddle, Luke Fletcher, Andre Adams, Harry Gurney, Ajmal Shahzad, Gary Keedy.