Peter Moores has confirmed that he is approaching Nottinghamshire’s final game of the season with one eye on next year, after naming a youthful squad for the trip to Surrey.
Of the thirteen selected for the fixture at the Oval, only captain Steven Mullaney is over the age of 30, while Ben Compton and Jack Blatherwick retain their places after making their red-ball debuts last week.
The duo are joined by Lyndon James, who returns to the four-day setup twelve months on from taking three wickets when making his County Championship bow.
“We’re changing it round a little bit from last week, but we’ll make sure that we put a competitive team out there” said Moores.
“We’ll try and make sure we finish the season well and the players finish the season by moving forward. We saw Joe Clarke do that in the last game (making two centuries).
“What we’re doing is trying to create opportunities for players and building for next year, and nothing changes with regards to that.”
Joey Evison was another player who impressed in a losing cause against Warwickshire, and the Notts Head Coach was pleased with what he saw from the 17-year-old.
“It was an outstanding debut from Joey,” he said.
“We’ve chosen to rest him for this game to help him to stay fresh for the England under-19s games over the winter, and we have to be mindful of his school work as well.”
Moore also confirmed that the attritional nature of the four-day contest with the Bears had forced him to further juggle his bowling options.
“At this time of year, you’re going to pick up a niggle here and there, and Luke Fletcher’s injured for this one,” he said.
“Paul Coughlin also bowled long spells in that Warwickshire game but he’s fine and will be fit to go as well.”
The one confirmed absentee is Ravi Ashwin, whose season has ended slightly prematurely and he has returned to India.
“We won’t have Ravi,” revealed the head coach. “but Liam Patterson-White has recovered from the hand injury that forced him to miss a match, so he comes back in.”
Nottinghamshire squad (from): Jake Ball, Jack Blatherwick, Matt Carter, Zak Chappell, Joe Clarke, Ben Compton, Paul Coughlin, Ben Duckett, Lyndon James, Tom Moores, Steven Mullaney (c), Liam Patterson-White, Ben Slater.
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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.