Peter Moores has praised the tactical brain of new signing Imad Wasim ahead of the Pakistan international’s home debut at Trent Bridge.
Notts Outlaws face Leicestershire Foxes with a 2.30pm start today, one day after the left-arm spinning all-rounder made his debut in a 27-run victory over Derbyshire Falcons.
Wasim impressed with figures of 1-16 at the Pattonair County Ground, plus a cameo innings of 10 not out, with Moores excited to welcome a multi-dimensional cricketer to the Outlaws ranks.
“Imad’s settled in really quickly. He batted well with Samit at the end of the innings and those were really important runs – and then he showed that he’s a bowler of real quality.
“His record is very good. But also, being with him for the last couple of days and throughout the game, he’s got a very strong tactical brain.
“He really thinks it through and that’s a really good thing, particularly in Twenty20 cricket.
“Imad’s an all-round cricketer who bats, bowls and fields. That’s the kind of player you want in this form of the game.
“He’ll be a good addition for us as we go through the tournament.”
The Outlaws have named a 14-man squad to face the Foxes with Luke Wood, Luke Fletcher and Chris Nash added to the 11 that triumphed in Derby.
Notts squad (from): Jake Ball, Matt Carter, Dan Christian (c), Joe Clarke, Ben Duckett, Luke Fletcher, Harry Gurney, Alex Hales, Jake Libby, Tom Moores, Chris Nash, Samit Patel, Imad Wasim and Luke Wood.
Moores is looking to take the momentum of back-to-back victories into today’s fixture against a Foxes side heavily defeated by Durham in their previous fixture.
“We’re looking forward to another battle,” he said. “The games come thick and fast and we all know momentum is a massive thing in sport.
“Leicestershire will be dangerous like every side in Twenty20. You’ve got to play well.
“They’ve got the challenge of coming in on the back of a loss, but we won’t read too much into it. We’ll focus on how we go about it and how we tackle the game.”
With a victory over Derbyshire on the board and a clash against Leicestershire to come, the added incentive of local derby success is far from lost on the Outlaws’ Head Coach.
“Anytime you play those local derbies, to get a win for the fans – who’ve had a tough old season – it’s great to give something back in that respect.
“The fans have been great. We know we’ve got a good Twenty20 side. The key is for everybody to get confidence and perform.
“We’ve had two fantastic crowds over the last two home games and we want to finish this run of three games in four days with another win.”
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Following a record midweek crowd of 13,691 against Northamptonshire Steelbacks, there are five further opportunities to catch the Outlaws in T20 action at Trent Bridge this summer.