Travis Holland owes a lot to one man with long-lasting Nottinghamshire connections. 

The Academy all-rounder came into contact with Andy Pick aged nine, whilst receiving one-to-one coaching at Trent Bridge. 

Under the watchful eye of the 1987 County Championship winner, Holland has gone through the entire Notts pathway, from gaining entry to the County Age Groups to playing Second XI cricket. 

The 17-year-old’s rise, amongst a crop of young Notts players with no shortage of talent, has been impressive. He views Pick as “one of the biggest influences” on his fledgling cricket career, although it hasn’t always been plane-sailing.

“When I first started having sessions with Picky, I would come and get peppered with the ball, and nearly be in tears,” Holland laughs. 

“There was one time when my friend Lewis was bowling, I got hit twice, and Picky walked down the wicket, handed me a half bat and told me to use that instead.”

Looking back, Holland believes those challenges prepared him for fast-tracked development. 

Eight short years later, the youngster is on the cusp of professional cricket, champing at the bit to make his mark in the senior ranks having done just that at every step of the journey so far. 

And there are now role models at Nottinghamshire, besides Pick. Those forging the path he wishes to follow in the near future. 

Lyndon James, Liam Patterson-White, Fateh Singh, Sammy King and Ben Martindale have graduated through the club’s Academy to earn professional contracts over recent seasons. 

The mentorship provided by those players has been nothing short of crucial.

“The first year I was in the Academy, the main players were Sammy, Ben and Fateh. It was quite daunting and it took me a while to get into it,” Holland admits.

“Sammy helped a lot. He is such an energetic character, both him and Ben made me feel comfortable just through the way they are. They were big characters in the group and they involved me in conversation.

“Kingy had some similar technical struggles to me, and he told me it was a case of practice. He would do focussed work on the specific area of weakness, and keep going until he felt comfortable. Lessons like that are valuable.

“I find him easy to talk to, and it is the same with Fateh. He tells me about his sessions with the first team, so it doesn’t feel too far away.

“Having played with them already, becoming a professional seems more achievable, especially because they have been where I am, scoring the same number of runs.”

There have been doubts along the way for Holland. But they have diminished with every notable performance. 

“This is the most motivated I have ever been to develop my own game because it is close to that make-or-break stage” Travis Holland

In 2020, he scored two hundreds for the U14s, a pair of fifties for the U15s and his maiden U18s half-century.

A year later, he managed a touch under 2,000 runs in club, county and representative cricket - including for the Midlands at Bunbury Festival.

And in his most recent season, the top-order batter amassed over 1,500 runs, as well as his first fifty and wicket for Nottinghamshire’s Second XI.

“The Emerging Player Programme was probably the first time I realised that I was one of the better players in my age group,” he says. 

“I pushed onto the Academy when I was quite young, so I had to prove myself that I could take that next step. You wonder whether you deserve to be there. 

“How I felt initially about Academy cricket - wondering if I was good enough - is, I guess, how I feel about Second XI cricket now.

“But I know that, as time goes on, I will get more comfortable. I am starting to see that already, just feeling part of the group and being myself in that space.”

That process is allowing Holland to look forward. With GCSEs complete, his firm focus is on volume of runs, as opposed to elevation of grades.

By his own admission, the next two seasons could define his long-term direction in the game.

His response has been to go all in. He’s adamant that Trent Bridge will become and will remain his adulthood home.

“This is the most motivated I have ever been to develop my own game because it is close to that make-or-break stage,” he says. 

“Aged 15 and under, you are told what to do and what to work on, whereas now I am taking more responsibility for my own game. I am definitely getting better at deciding what I need to work on and how to go about it. 

“The difference between U18s and Second XI is massive, but I am one of the more senior, experienced players in age group cricket now, so I feel ready to take that next step.”

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