Mick Newell is relishing taking his Nottinghamshire squad on the road after the Welbeck Weekender concluded with three points from a possible four to start the Royal London One-Day Cup campaign.

The Outlaws face fixtures in Hove, Chelmsford, Liverpool, London and Worcester during the next fortnight - and they embark on their UK tour in high spirits following an emphatic nine wicket victory over Warwickshire.

Newell’s men were robbed of the opportunity to capitalise on a half-century stand between Brendan Taylor and Samit Patel against Glamorgan on day two at the John Fretwell Sporting Complex due to rain.

But, with three points on the board coupled with an emphatically hight net run-rate, Newell sees it as a positive weekend’s work.

“We knew today’s forecast was poor so it was really important to get a win in the game yesterday,” he said.

“Three points is a decent return given the disappointing weather today. Hopefully that stands us in good stead for the rest of the group.

“It was a bit like yesterday where batting in the first hour was quite difficult. The ball was moving around a little bit and the ball wasn’t coming onto the bat as you would perhaps want on a one-day wicket.

“It was a challenge and we were just getting ourselves into a nice partnership so it’s a shame the game hasn’t gone its full course.

“A shortened game wouldn’t have suited us from 83-3, there’s no doubt about that, but had we been able to bat a full 50 overs it would have been interesting to see what happened.

“We have a lot of travelling coming up and a four day game on the back end of that,” the Director of Cricket continued.

“We’re going to be away from Nottingham for a while, we’ll be taking a big group of players around with us and it’s very important that we continue our momentum.”

Newell named a line-up that didn’t include Michael Lumb in each of the two fixtures over the weekend as the Outlaws instead opted for an extra option with the ball.

The Director of Cricket admitted it wasn't an easy decision, but that one batsman had to be sacrificed in order to balance the team.

“To leave out a player of Michael’s quality is not an easy call, but we felt it was the right thing to do to get some bowling into the team.

“We have to have six bowlers in our opinion and that means a batsman had to miss out.”

Newell’s parting shot to Welbeck Cricket Club was one of high praise, stating that the venue compares favourably to one of the most established out-grounds on the county circuit.

‘We spent last week at Horsham, which is a good venue for county cricket, and this compares very favourably,” he said.

“It’s an excellent venue because of the pitch, the facilities for the players and there was enough for the spectators on a sunny day yesterday. Hopefully this is the first of many visits.

“50-over cricket is the most suitable type of match to take away and the fact that there was over two thousand people here yesterday is very encouraging.

Asked whether fixtures at the venue are something the Club would look to repeat in the future, Newell added: “It’s between Welbeck, the Chief Executive and the Committee of our Club. If Welbeck have enjoyed it, if it’s been financially viable for them, from a cricket perspective it’s something we’d like to repeat.”

 

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