Notts County Assistant Manager Richard Thomas was welcomed as a guest of Head Coach Peter Moores at a Notts Outlaws net and training session this morning.
The Magpies’ number two to Kevin Nolan observed the likes of Alex Hales, Jake Ball and Captain Steven Mullaney, among others, as they prepared for tomorrow’s crunch Royal London One-Day Cup floodlit clash with neighbours Derbyshire (2pm start).
Thomas, a former player for Chelmsford City and coach at Leyton Orient, found several differences but also plenty of similarities between the way cricketers and footballers ready themselves for matchdays.
He was keen to take away ideas he could implement at Meadow Lane when County bid to improve on their fifth place finish in EFL’s League Two last season as the new 2018-19 campaign gets underway in August.
“You can always pick up and learn something from looking at other sports, and there are plenty of things that cross over.”
“I’m a big believer that you can always pick up and learn something from looking at other sports, and there are plenty of things that cross over,” said Thomas.
“Peter has very kindly allowed me to come in after it was arranged through Luke Fletcher and Mark Crossley (County’s first-team coach). I’ve been able to pick their brains and see how the players work on a day-to-day basis.
“If you live in Canada you’ve got to get involved in ice hockey and if you live in Australia you have to be a rugby league fan of some sort. Living here in Nottingham, you have to know what Notts are doing with a cricket ball so it’s been great to come and pick up as much as I can.”
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