Luke Fletcher expects the strong core of Nottinghamshire players at the disposal of Trent Rockets to be beneficial when the inaugural season of The Hundred gets underway this summer.

The seamer is one of half a dozen Outlaws in Stephen Fleming’s squad – a contingent Fletcher feels will help the side to hit the ground running both on and off the field.

“It’s such a tough place to play, where the boundaries are small and the wickets are good, so your skills have to be pretty on point,” he said.

“The likes of me and Harry [Gurney] have played here for a lot of our careers, and I think this experience will give us a better chance. I’m sure that will have been the thought from Fleming and I think it’ll prove to be a good thing.

“On top of that, we probably aren’t going to have too long to bond as a group, so I think having some local players who know the ground, the surroundings and each other could give us an extra one or two percent over the opposition.”

Fletcher and Fleming’s Nottinghamshire careers overlapped briefly, with the 31-year-old appearing in the Second XI during the New Zealander’s spell as first XI skipper – and Fletcher is relishing the opportunity to learn from the renowned limited-overs coach.

“When I first started at Notts I played alongside Stephen in a second-team game as he was coming back from injury, but it’ll be great to get stuck in with him, train with him, and be around him for a good five weeks,” he said.

“He achieved great things with the club and everyone who’s worked with him speaks really highly of him as a leader, so I can’t wait to work with him.”

The new competition will afford Fletcher the opportunity to work alongside a host of world-class talent – and to test himself against leading white-ball practitioners, including Outlaws T20 captain Dan Christian.

“I’ve bowled at [Ben] Duckett and [Joe] Clarke before,” said Fletcher of his county teammates, who will represent Welsh Fire and Manchester Originals respectively, “but bowling to DC will be fun. He’ll know what I’m thinking, I’ll know what he’ll be thinking, and he can certainly belt it, so it’ll be interesting.”

“I played against D’Arcy [Short, one of Trent Rockets’ overseas stars], and he smacked me about a bit – he’s a quality player.

“He’ll be great to play with, as will Rashid Khan. He’s the number one bowler in the world, so it will be amazing to watch him train, play and see how he goes about his business.

“Whenever you get to play with overseas players it’s exciting. They bring skills that you might not have come across before in county cricket, so to be around three [with Nathan Coulter-Nile also part of the setup] will be brilliant.”

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Nottinghamshire members will have first access to The Hundred tickets at half-price between 15 and 31 January.

To secure by far the best prices on ticketing for The Hundred, alongside access to the full season of scheduled home domestic county cricket, purchase Nottinghamshire membership here…