Tom Moores could be in line for his Nottinghamshire first-class debut as Mick Newell’s men visit Scarborough to face Yorkshire on Tuesday.

The 19-year-old has, together with Billy Root, been named as a batsman in a 13-man squad for the fixture, with Riki Wessels dropping out from the side that lost to Hampshire last time out.

“The senior batsmen have had a fair crack,” said Nottinghamshire Director of Cricket Mick Newell.“Riki’s obviously not in the party and that’s due to form. We need to have a look at Billy and Tom around the squad and I think the senior players have had more than a fair opportunity.

“We’re keen to have a look at Tom and Billy. This is a tough challenge. Next week at Durham is a tough challenge. But somebody can grab this and make a real start for themselves in their first-class career.

“He mustn’t change the way he plays his game,” added Newell on the aggressive ball striking approach that got Moores recognised, not least when he scored 388 runs in three innings in the Second XI.

“He’s got into the first-team playing aggressively, scoring quickly in the second-team. He must play his normal game and, hopefully, he can score well.”

In the bowling attack, Nottinghamshire welcome back Brett Hutton following a finger injury, a timely return for the bowling all-rounder after Jake Ball’s recent England call-up ruled him out of domestic duty.

Stuart Broad will undergo a further scan tomorrow on his left ankle and has been withdrawn from the squad by the ECB.

“Jake, along with Harry, is the leader of our red ball attack in terms of pace. We’re bound to miss him.

“But it’s a great thing for him, if he’s going to get another opportunity for England. He deserves his chance and part of why we exist is to supply England players.

“Brett had an excellent second-half of last year and he started this season strongly. He tailed off a little bit and his injury has given him two or three weeks off – hopefully he comes back fresh. We’ll consider his credentials, alongside Luke Fletcher's, and that will be the call we make.

“It’s good to have some youth around the squad, with Luke Wood coming back fit, Tom Moores, Jake Libby – we need that enthusiasm to spur the senior players on.”

Nottinghamshire will start their 13th game of the season at the bottom of the Specsavers County Championship First Division table, but belief that they can avoid relegation remains very much in tact, according to Newell.

“It’s a really big game. I’m not sure where the pressure sits because they are trying to get to the top and we’re obviously trying to get off the bottom," he said.

“We’ve just got to a find a way of winning games. If we’re going to reach our target we’ll need at least two wins, if not three.

“We’ve got four games to go with a substantial amount of points still on offer – and we’ve got to believe we can get a lot of them.

“I don’t expect too many draws to be coming up in the next four weeks. Hopefully, we’re on the right end of the positive results.

“There will be a change in personnel for tomorrow, so a lot of them won’t be affected by what happened on Saturday,” added Newell, on bouncing back from NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day disappointment.   

“Yorkshire are in the same boat as us in that situation, but both teams will have a lot of different people playing.

“Our previous four day match against them at Trent Bridge was one of the best games I’ve been involved in, in terms of four-day cricket. This time I’m not looking for a terrific match, I’m looking for a win.”

“At the moment, we need to find some confidence. That will come by a good performance against a good team.

“Lots of different people have been playing since that game, but that was a terrific match."

 

Nottinghamshire squad to face Yorkshire (from): Luke Fletcher, Harry Gurney, Brett Hutton, Jake Libby, Michael Lumb, Tom Moores, Steven Mullaney, Samit Patel, Chris Read, Billy Root, Imran Tahir, Brendan Taylor and Luke Wood.