After a successful weekend, in which they won the Barbados T20 Cup competition for a fourth straight year, Nottinghamshire turn their attention to the longer format with a two day fixture against Hampshire to be played over Tuesday and Wednesday.
The match will take place at Windward CC, on the eastern side of the island, a venue which has become familiar to the tourists over the last few years.
“This is where it begins for some of them,” said Mick Newell. “We’ve got about nine batsmen at the club vying for six starting places in the championship team, and just as many bowlers looking to fill one of the handful of available bowling spots.
“As we’ve seen in past years, good performances out here can enable players to put their hand up for inclusion when we pick a side to face Surrey in our opening match.”
The tour has already produced a couple of slight injury concerns, with the Director of Cricket confirming a couple of definite absentees for the Hampshire match.
“Will Gidman went over on his ankle in Friday’s practice session, so that ruled him out of the T20 and we’re monitoring his situation, so he won’t be involved yet.
“Sam Wood had to come off in the final because of a hamstring injury, so he won’t be risked either.
There is better news concerning the Club Captain, Chris Read.
“He’s ready again, after his bicep injury, so he will play, as will Brendan Taylor, who didn’t take part in the T20.
“Over the course of the match we hope to get as many players involved as we can, with a further two-dayer against Northants to come later in the week.”
By agreement between the two counties Nottinghamshire will bat for the first 60 overs today, with Hampshire then facing the remaining 30 overs in the day. On Wednesday the roles will be reversed, with Notts in the field first.
Nottinghamshire squad to face Hampshire: Chris Read, Jack Blatherwick, Matthew Carter, Anuj Dal, Luke Fletcher, Harry Gurney, Brett Hutton, Ben Kitt, Jake Libby, Michael Lumb, Steven Mullaney, Greg Smith, Brendan Taylor, Riki Wessels and Luke Wood.
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.