Nottinghamshire’s second eleven are set to welcome a week of Twenty20 action, with clashes against Lancashire and Yorkshire over the next two days. 

Captain Paul Franks will lead the side once more, looking to impose themselves on the shortest format of the summer after a barren run of results.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to get a win on the board after three losses in a row, and turn a bit of a corner,” he said. 

“Not only that, but given that there seem to be places up for grabs in the first team on Friday, there are four matches here which could put some players right in the frame to step up.”

Franks is, of course, alluding to the launch of the NatWest T20 Blast at Trent Bridge on Friday, with the Notts Outlaws a man light after losing seamer Jake Ball to a broken foot last week and the captain was keen to see some of his exciting prospects step up.

“I’d like to think they’ll be hungry,” he said.

“They’ll know that with a couple of outstanding performances they can make a step up, and rather than targeting victories, I’ll be looking for those performances. 

That’s the challenge I’ll be laying down to them in the morning, and that’s what I’m hoping they’ll rise to.

“There has been some speculation about who might or might not be playing for Lancashire, but no matter who appears we have to cope with it, work on our game and if we do that we’ll turn in a good performance.” 

A solid core of young players have been present in Nottinghamshire’s second eleven in recent weeks, with the likes of Luke Wood, Hassan Azad and Adam Tillcock continuing to impress. 

While this week’s squad will be bolstered by Luke Fletcher, Franks celebrated the quality of the side’s younger professionals.

“If you can have a solid core of players, that’s fantastic,” he said. 

“It makes an excellent foundation for building a good side. We’ve had a chopping and changing start, across personnel and formats.

“It’ll be a good test for us, we’re a decent limited overs side and have some really exciting prospects. I just want to see them realise that potential.”

Nottinghamshire 2XI squad to face Lancashire 2XI (from): Sam Kelsall, Matt Cross (wk), Hassan Azad, Bilal Shafayat, Sam Wood, Adam Tillcock, Brett Hutton, Paul Franks (c), Luke Fletcher, Luke Wood, Steve Seymour, Gary Keedy.