Samit Patel believes Nottinghamshire will be a team to watch in all three competitions during the 2016 season.
The 30-year-old all-rounder recently returned from England’s Test tour of the United Arab Emirates where he featured in one of the three matches against Pakistan.
Following a short break from the game, he is set to rejoin pre-season training at the beginning of December - and he believes the breakthrough seasons enjoyed by the Club's homegrown seamers have provided particular reasons for optimism.
“The strides we made last year were outstanding,” Patel said.
“To see the likes of Jake Ball, Brett Hutton and Luke Wood all coming on as players can only be good for club and country.
“Jake is with the England Lions at the moment where he will give it his best shot and he will impress people out there.
“He’s come on massively, he’s matured as a bowler, he knows exactly what he wants to do and - as a senior player - that’s pleasing for me to see.
“With the squad we’ve got, you’d be stupid to rule us out of any competition.
“Winning one trophy is hard enough, as we all know, but we’ve got to set our standards high and you never know in cricket.
“From a personal perspective, I had a poor year with the bat in 2015,” the Nottinghamshire and England all-rounder continued.
“I didn’t get going. There were some soft dismissals and a bit of bad luck, but that can happen in four day cricket.
“Hopefully 2016 will be a massive year for me in all formats. I want 2016 to be massive.”
Patel was one of four Nottinghamshire cricketers on the Test tour of the UAE alongside Stuart Broad, Alex Hales and James Taylor.
Like Patel, Taylor had to wait until the third and final Test for the opportunity to play in the Test team.
Hales didn’t feature at all, but the left-arm spinning all-rounder praised the attitude of both Outlaws batsmen, who are now reaping rewards for their hard work in the one-day series.
“It was quite easy for me because there were four Notts lads there.
“Alex didn’t get the chances in the Test matches, but he trained immensely,” said Patel. “He trained so hard that it was noticeable for everybody.
“It was really good to train together with him, and with Titch who played in the last match with me.
“The way James and Alex presented themselves was fantastic and it’s paying off now.
“They both trained hard, Titch played well in that last Test match and now they’re both playing well in the one-dayers.”
As for Patel’s personal performance on the tour, earning a place in the starting line-up - having been called-up as a late replacement for Zafar Ansari - was something of a triumph in itself.
A fluent first innings score of 42 - and match figures of 3-164 with the ball - didn’t nail down a place for the future, but the Nottinghamshire man was content with his performance and hopes to return to the international fold in the future.
“I thought it went really, really well,” he said. I was lucky to get on the trip to start with and I played one Test match.
“It was a great learning experience and - with Trevor (Bayliss) as the new coach and Farby (Paul Farbrace) who I know - it was great to be back in the fold again.
“Pakistan played spin really well, as you would expect, and although there was a lot of talk about how we didn’t bowl very well, I actually don’t think we bowled that badly. It was just how well they played.
“With having no warm-up under my belt, I was pretty happy with how I went and it was great to score some runs.
“There was no pressure on me as such as a third spinner who bats at eight.
“I went in thinking I’ll give it my all and play as though it’s my last Test match, although hopefully there will be more chances for me to pull on an England shirt.”
The 2015 season has seen dramatic last-gasp four day victories, thrilling limited-overs contests and an historic Investec Ashes Test, all in the unique surroundings of Trent Bridge.
Next season, we’d wager, will be no less enthralling and frankly we’d hate for you to miss out.