Preview: Nottinghamshire vs Warwickshire; Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 March at Trent Bridge.
The outcomes, when all said and done, are not vital. But the process is important.
Nottinghamshire’s previous pre-season encounter against Warwickshire proved to be the archetypal game of two halves.
Bowled out for 131 on the opening day, Luke Fletcher laid the platform for what was to become a stellar season by rattling through a ten-over evening session stint.
For pre-season, this felt a little out of the ordinary, but the Green and Gold stalwart was, it seemed, doing his bit as a senior player; showing the way in terms of fight and commitment to the the bitter end of what had been a chastening day.
By coming back on day two and performing the Kevin Shine playbook to perfection, squeezing the scoring-rate then snaring wickets in clusters, Nottinghamshire set a tidy template for the bigger battles to come.
Liam Patterson-White mopped up the tail and the rest of his 2021 was history. Haseeb Hameed, who was in need of some time in the middle, got just that during an evening session in which the Notts’ top order prospered.
The runs relaxed the Vice-Captain into what would become an extremely fruitful opening month to the Championship campaign.
And as Peter Moores names a 12-man squad for a reverse friendly fixture over the forthcoming weekend, he’s ready to see the story of his side’s latest pre-season continue to unfold.
“You can’t replicate time in the middle,” said the Head Coach. “You get ‘grass legs’ from having a day in the dirt. We want competitive cricket and we know we’re going to get that against Warwickshire.
“We’re trying to tighten up on our skills, on our preparation, on everything to do with playing the game. We’ll put a big emphasis on ourselves; how we bat, bowl and field and the way in which we go about the game.
“You want to see the bowlers hit their areas, which they did in the previous game, and playing matches leads to a change in mentality and an increased intensity to the way in which everyone gets ready to play.
“Credit to Loughborough University for the way they got stuck in in our first game. Now two games against county opposition (Nottinghamshire travel to Derbyshire next week) will be a good progression for us as we build towards the season."
But the opposition are only part of the tale when it comes to pre-season. Matchdays become a test of physical and mental conditioning.
“A full match day feels like a long time when you haven’t played red-ball cricket for a while. You’re batting and fielding for longer, so pre-season games are about getting conditioned to all of that before starting the season proper down at Sussex,” Moores continued.
“Two-day games are always a little bit manufactured in terms of when each side bats and bowls and for how long.
“But we had two great games against Warwickshire in the Championship last season, it will be good to lock horns again and we’ll know a bit more about how everyone is shaping-up by the end of it.”
Regardless of pre-season performance, one thing is for sure… come 7 April and the onset of the LV= Insurance County Championship, the numbers on the league table will read zero.
And yet recent history tells us that some of the narratives of 2022 will, albeit under the radar, have already been partially defined.
Next up is Notts versus Warwickshire at Trent Bridge and play will commence at 11am.
The outcome isn’t vital, but it is important.
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Nottinghamshire versus Warwickshire at Trent Bridge will commence at 11am on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 March with free entry available for all.
If you can’t make it to the ground, our live streaming service, social media channels and club website will keep you updated throughout.