Nottinghamshire Head Coach Peter Moores has urged his players to quickly put the euphoria of reaching a Lord’s final behind them in readiness for their important County Championship Division Two clash with Leicestershire.
The team return to red ball action on Monday (11am start) by welcoming their near-neighbours just two days after the Outlaws defeated Essex Eagles in the Royal London One-Day Cup semi-final on Friday thanks to a record run chase in all List A fixtures.
While thrilled with the team’s performance at Chelmsford – where Samit Patel hit 122 not out and Steven Mullaney 111, as Notts replied to Essex’s 370-5 with 373-5 – Moores is now calling for a fresh focus.
“We enjoyed last night with the Essex victory, but the Leicestershire game will come around pretty quickly,” said Moores.
“We now have two home games (Leicestershire then Kent) which we have already identified for us to try to get a couple of wins. We have to get back into red ball skills quickly and prepare ourselves for four big days between Monday and Thursday.
“We will be relaxing today, but we will be training tomorrow morning. One thing we have done really well so far this season is to not get distracted by things, so after 24 hours to enjoy the win, we’ll be aiming to prepare right for the next one.
“I’m sure the lads will be up for it come Monday morning because we have a real goal to try to win Division Two.”
“It’s been a tough week with two games and we have not been home, so those lads who come in can bring a bit of energy to everyone else.” Head Coach Peter Moores
Players such as Luke Fletcher, Luke Wood and Jake Libby missed out on a spot in the Outlaws side for the momentous Essex win.
Moores believes having them back around the first team squad for the upcoming Specsavers County Championship action will bring significant benefits.
He added: “It’s great to have a strong squad and those guys who haven’t played in the one-dayers will hopefully give us an injection.
“It’s been a tough week with two games and we have not been home, so those lads who come in can bring a bit of energy to everyone else.”
Reflecting on the victory at Essex, Moores was full of praise for his side, who were up against it before Patel, Man of the Match Mullaney and Brendan Taylor, with 62, swung the game back in their favour.
The success has certainly fuelled huge interest, with two coaches already full for the trip to Lord’s, just hours after tickets went on sale.
“It’s up there with the best one-dayers I’ve seen because everyone played well,” said Moores. “Alastair Cook batted beautifully and Ryan ten Doeschate put together a classic one-day innings, taking 20 balls to get in before showing his immense power as a striker.
“We bowled pretty well and threw ourselves around in the field. We wanted to get out of the traps pretty quickly but then to show the belief from 80-3 to get past 370-5 was a tremendous effort.
“The belief in each other was a big factor and we’ve got a lot of people who are scoring runs and playing well. Every ball we gave our all.”
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