Peter Moores has spoken of the need for his side to show mental toughness as they start to look towards the 2020 campaign.
“It’s been a tough year,” admitted the Head Coach, taking stock of a season of contrasting emotions.
“White-ball wise, we reached two semi-finals, so all credit to the players for that.
"The frustration of Finals Day is still pretty close to the surface, but we’ve played some good cricket in the white-ball game this year.
“But with the red-ball we’ve had one of the worst seasons we can remember.
"We’ve got real work to do between now and the start of next summer and the hope is that, through the shared adversity, we get something out of it.
“The players have learnt some tough lessons and as coaches we’ll work with them.
"We need to get them to a point where we are a tougher side because we know that, mentally, we haven’t been tough enough at times.”
The coach remarked that last winter’s recruitment had been necessary but hadn’t produced the intended results.
“We’ve lost a lot of players over the last couple of years,” said Moores.
“That’s left a void of experience and talent that we tried to fill by signing some very good young players, as well as bringing some of our own youngsters through.”
Joe Clarke, who signed from Worcestershire, struggled for runs for much of the Specsavers County Championship campaign, despite making 112 and 97 not out in the first match of the season.
“Moving clubs is not easy,” said Moores. “Joe started well and then finished by making two hundreds in the last match at Trent Bridge.
“But in the middle, it was probably the toughest period he has been through, both on and off the field.
"I don’t think Joe could have predicted, or anyone else could have predicted, that he’d have a run of form like that.”
Moores also stated that he expects Samit Patel to feature for the county again in 2020, despite him being allowed to join Glamorgan on a red-ball loan for the latter part of this summer.
“Samit’s still got a year to go on his contract and you don’t become a bad player overnight,” reflected the Head Coach.
“Samit lost form in red-ball cricket and that was partly the reason to allow him to go on loan to Glamorgan. It was a chance for him to re-find his touch as a player.
“He’s a fantastic player, who has been one of the top performers for the club for a long time and, quite rightly, the members love him for what he has given to the club.”
Moores now has the task of recovering Nottinghamshire’s Division One status at the first time of asking, and he feels the blend of youth and experience in the dressing room will be key.
“I don’t think we should panic,” he said. “It’s a case of having a clear plan of how we are moving forward.
“Part of that will be to create real opportunities for some of our own young players - and, if there is the right senior player out there to add to the squad, then we will look at that.
“When we start to pick that first team there’s going to be a good scrap to see who’s going to be in it.”
*******
Nottinghamshire Membership for the 2020 season is on sale, with those who join for next season currently bestowed exclusive access to applying for international tickets.