Imran Tahir is set to make his Nottinghamshire first-class debut in the LV= County Championship match against Worcestershire tomorrow.
The 36-year-old leggy has been named by Director of Cricket Mick Newell in a 13-man squad for the fixture and faces a head-to-head battle with Pakistan’s similarly high profile spinner Saeed Ajmal.
“Imran Tahir is with us now, so this will be a game for him to play,” said Newell. “It gives Worcestershire something to think about.
“I was conscious of going into this game and going to Edgbaston in three or four weeks time without a high quality spin bowler.
“They are two grounds where we can expect to see a lot of spin, so Imran gives us that option of something to fight back with.
“We expect Imran, as the overseas leg-spinner, to make major contributions throughout the game and to knock tails over quite quickly.
“He has already made a very encouraging start in fifty over cricket, and we would like that to continue.”
Newell has confirmed that he will name a three man pace bowling attack to support Tahir with Luke Wood, Brett Hutton, Harry Gurney and Jake Ball vying for three positions.
Wood is well rested ahead of the fixture having not featured in the recent glut of white ball cricket, and Newell confirmed that the 19-year-old has a key role to play between now and the end of the season.
“We will look at the seam bowlers because Jake Ball and Harry Gurney have played a lot of the cricket, and Luke Wood has been resting and getting ready to play again,” said Newell.
“Luke has played some games for the Academy and he has played for the second team also.
“He has played enough cricket to just keep ticking over, bowling enough overs to keep busy. That is what we want from him.
“Whether he plays at Worcester will depend on the wicket and the balance of the team.
“But he has an important role to play in the last five games of the season, there is no doubt about that.
“Whether he plays in every match, hopefully we have got an ability to rotate the squad around a little bit by having fit bowlers.”
Wood’s 25 wickets so far this season have come at a handy average of 27.68 and Newell believes his bowling attack’s youngest member can be proud of the way his career is progressing.
“He has made huge progress and going forward he is going to be a key player for us,” said Newell.
“Certainly in what he has offered to the team, he has been a breath of fresh air and brought a huge amount of enthusiasm.
“Both him and Brett Hutton have lifted the dressing room. The fact that both of those two have completely justified their place in the team one hundred per cent is very encouraging for the side.
“We just have to manage his expectation levels and the expectation levels of people around him on how many games he is going to play.”
Nottinghamshire squad to face Worcestershire (from): Jake Ball, Harry Gurney, Alex Hales, Brett Hutton Michael Lumb, Steven Mullaney, Samit Patel, Chris Read, Imran Tahir, Brendan Taylor, James Taylor, Riki Wessels and Luke Wood.
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