As the Nottinghamshire squad prepares to return to Trent Bridge for pre-season training on Monday, Paul Franks has recalled how winters of the not too distant past were very different to the present day.
Franks, who retired from first-class cricket at the conclusion of the 2015 season, began his career with Notts back in 1996 when, for the majority, the winter months meant going away and getting a normal job.
A succession of representative tours - and other opportunities to play abroad - largely sheltered Franks from such toil during his formative years, but his teammates weren’t always so fortunate.
“We all used to disappear,” he said. “The older men in the team with families would go off and find a job for a few months and come back in for nets once a week from January onwards.
“We were left to our own devices from a physical perspective to make sure we came back in good condition.
“Obviously now we’re all expected to do a lot more; and quite rightly so because the game has gone to different places, which is great for the progression of individuals within that.
“It’s a big change and I look back thinking about how we ever did it any differently.
“It provides more opportunities to keep learning about yourself as players and coaches - and we’ll be working with the squad over this coming winter to give them the best chance next year.
“I was lucky enough to tour with England under 19s and England A for the first two or three years of my professional career,” the 36-year-old continued.
“I went on three or four different tours and pretty much played non-stop for four or five years.
“When I wasn’t playing I was chilling out, resting and taking stock of what just happened. My winters were always pretty short which was a nice thing.
“I also had the opportunity to play overseas, spending some time in New Zealand and South Africa, giving me lots of different experiences that I was able to call upon moving forward.”
A number of Nottinghamshire’s young cricketers are set to enjoy equivalent experiences during the current close season.
While Stuart Broad, James Taylor, Samit Patel and Alex Hales earned selection for the full England tour of Pakistan, Mansfield born fast bowler Jake Ball has been selected by the England Lions for their Twenty20 matches in the United Arab Emirates.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Tom Moores is bound for Sri Lanka with his country’s under 19s, while fellow gloveman Tom Keast has been chosen for an England Development Programme training squad.
Fast bowler Luke Wood and off-spinner Matthew Carter are also set for trips abroad, to South Africa and the UAE respectively, thanks to the England Performance Programme.
Franks is a strong advocate of such tours, believing all those selected will become better players for the experience.
“They’ll get to play in very different conditions to what we could provide in Nottingham,” he said.
“They’re going all over the world exploring different surfaces, climates and opposition, which is fantastic.
“It’s great to see it happening, it’s credit to the ECB and credit to the players who have forced their way into those squads. They will learn a massive amount.
“Whether they fail or succeed, they’ll come back better players.
“Whilst that might be hard for them to understand at that point in time, they’ll come to be greatly improved players who will go from strength-to-strength in the future.”
Franks is currently enjoying a month long stint coaching the UAE's national team - and he’s already looking forward to helping the Nottinghamshire ranks through a long and challenging pre-season.
“I’ll be involved with the rest of the senior coaches on the programme we run with the professionals and some of the Academy players this winter - and that’s something I’m looking forward to,” he said.
“It will be nice to be back among that group, hopefully providing some challenges and support to the players and getting them ready for a big 2016.”
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.