Nottinghamshire Director of Cricket Mick Newell has named his team for the opening first class game of the season, with Michael Lumb set to make his return to red ball action.
Lumb spent much of the 2015 season out of the side, but is now set to make his return against Cambridge MCCU following a winter that saw him star for the Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash T20 down under.
The powerful left-hander demonstrated that his form had been transferred to the red ball format with a pre-season half-century against Leicestershire last week.
He leads an experienced middle-order also featuring Riki Wessels, Samit Patel and James Taylor, who also spent valuable time in the middle against the Foxes, batting out a full session prior to retiring his innings on 44 not out.
“It was my first hit for a couple of months so it was massive for me,” said the Nottinghamshire and England man.
“It was important to spend a bit of time at the crease, just to find my feet.
“I got exactly what I needed out of the fixture. Our boys bowled really nicely and Leicestershire bowled really nicely, it was a good wicket and it was great practice.”
The fixture at Fenner’s is the next opportunity for Nottinghamshire players, with bat, gloves and ball, to put miles in their legs ahead of the Specsavers County Championship opener at home to Surrey.
“University matches can play a big role because it gives us some competitive cricket, which is exactly what they need to be as prepared as we can be for that first championship game," said Taylor.
“We’re obviously going to go out and try to win the game, but it’s a fine balance between doing that and getting time in the middle under our belts.
“It’s important for all the batters to spend a bit of time at the crease and for the bowlers to get some overs under their belts against decent opposition.”
Having featured for England in all four Tests during the recent series in South Africa, Taylor could be forgiven for having one eye on prospective selection for the series against Sri Lanka starting in May.
But the 26-year-old won’t allow himself to be distracted from the immediate purpose of winning matches for Nottinghamshire.
“If playing for England comes about, it will be through me scoring runs,” he said. “First and foremost it’s up to me to play for Nottinghamshire, to spend some time at the crease and score some valuable runs, and to get the team into positions where we can get some wins during those first few games.”
Nottinghamshire team to face Cambridge MCCU: Jake Ball, Harry Gurney, Brett Hutton, Michael Lumb, Steven Mullaney, Samit Patel, Chris Read, Brendan Taylor, James Taylor, Riki Wessels, Luke Wood and Ben Kitt (12th Man).
The 2015 season saw 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.