Lyndon James believes the fashion in which Nottinghamshire secured a draw on the final day of their LV= County Championship clash with Glamorgan will aid the cricketing development of everyone involved.
Having resumed on 19/1 and needing to bat out the day to secure a draw, James hit an unbeaten 76 to back up Joe Clarke’s 95 as the Green and Golds rose to the challenge and took 13 points home from Cardiff.
“I think, both as individuals as a team, gritty days like this help you grow,” reflected James. “They’re days that are not that pretty, where you have to put the so-called nicer shots away and instead just bat for long periods of time. It was nice that we were able to do that.”
James was delighted with the spirit shown by his side in tenaciously soaking up more than 86 overs to save the game, reflecting that the result is key against a fellow promotion contender as the season hots up.
“It was a good day for us, and it’s a big result in the context of our season,” said James. “With Middlesex having lost yesterday, it’s a big points swing, so we’re very happy.”
“There was never any doubt that we’d put in a good performance in an effort to get us over the line. We all had faith that the 11 batters would go out there to get the job done.”
The all-rounder also hit 50 in the first innings, and is rapidly becoming an indispensable part of Peter Moores’ first-choice Championship starting XI.
Notts have won 12 First-Class games out of 25 since the beginning of last season and have not often been in the position in which they found themselves on the final day against Glamorgan over that time.
James believes that that success in the recent past played its part in instilling belief in the side and drove them forward to complete their job at Sophia Gardens.
“As a team over the last few years, we’ve built that confidence up. We had to do the same thing against Durham in the first game of last season, so we know we’ve done it before.
“We’re really happy we could do it again here."
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