Mick Newell says 2015 will go down as a great season for Nottinghamshire should they emerge victorious from Monday’s Royal London One-Day Cup semi-final against Surrey and go on to win the competition.
The Director of Cricket says the Outlaws are taking confidence ahead of the fixture from a run of form in all competitions that has seen them lose just once in their last 15 matches, with 13 victories.
Notts have had a full fortnight in which to prepare for the fixture with no cricket, and Newell says the prospect of winning a place in the Lord’s final has been the ideal carrot to motivate his side during that period.
“Any season that you win a trophy is a great season,” he said.
“In 2013, we won the 40-over comp and to me that made it a great campaign because there is only three tournaments you can win.
“It’s hanging out there as a great motivation and it’s a game we desperately want to win.
“Our form is good for the confidence, but then the two weeks off is a new experience for many of us as well,” Newell continued.
“Everyone is feeling good about themselves and feeling good about each other because they’ve played some good cricket.
“How do we respond to two weeks without any cricket? I don’t know. It’s a completely new one for us.
“There has been and will be a lot of nets, which is unusual for September, but that’s the way we’ve got to get ready for the game.
“Surrey have been playing against Derbyshire; whether you’d rather be playing or resting I don’t know. We’ll find out.
“I don’t think it will make a huge amount of difference on the day. It will be about who can deal with the pitch and the conditions. That’s the challenge of going to Surrey which is very different to playing at Trent Bridge.”
Newell believes being drawn away from home for the final four fixture makes emerging victorious a bigger challenge for his side.
He also respects the opposition's mix of youth and experience, and expects his batting line-up - which is likely to be missing Alex Hales and James Taylor on international duty - to be put on trial by spin.
“Surrey are a young team with the two Currans, Ansari and Burke all playing a prominent role," he said.
“Batty is a very senior figure and they have Sangakkara back so they’re better for that.
“They always bat first and we are expecting 20 overs of spin from them. Up here that wouldn’t be so effective. Down there it might be and we have to deal with that.
“It will be an interesting challenge. If the game were here we’d be favourites. Being there I think it’s a 50/50 game.”
Follow the live scorecard, regular text updates and radio commentary on Monday through your perfect match-day companion Trent Bridge Live.
Trent Bridge will host One-Day Internationals against Sri Lanka and Pakistan in 2016. Sign up here to be the first to hear about fixture and ticketing information for these two matches.