Brett Hutton believes sticking to foundational principles has been key to a so-far impressive individual LV= Insurance County Championship season, ahead of Hampshire’s visit to Trent Bridge.
Hutton forms part of a 12-man squad with Haseeb Hameed captaining the side once again in Steven Mullaney's absence, while Toby Pettman and James Hayes are in contention for a First-Class Nottinghamshire debut.
Hutton may not have made selection for April’s season opener against this week’s visitors, but the in-form seamer has since well and truly asserted his importance to Nottinghamshire’s red-ball campaign, currently joint-leader in the County Championship's wicket-taking charts.
With 41 wickets to his name so far, only matched by Warwickshire's Chris Rushworth in Division One, Hutton has been central to the bowling arm of Peter Moores’ side, crediting optimism and discipline for his table-topping performance with the ball.
“You’re always hoping for a good season, you just do all your prep and technical work,” he said, “It happens to be going well for me this year, it’s just one of those things and hopefully it’ll continue for the years to come.
“You’ve just got to go through your processes, do things right and hope for the best.”
Such was Nottinghamshire’s monumental physical efforts down in the capital last week, Hutton’s ability to shake off cramp against Surrey felt the more impressive feat compared to his latest five-fer in the third innings, as the Notts bowling attack was regularly hampered by niggles and strains.
Jake Ball suffered an early exit, before Hutton himself became troubled with what later appeared to be - in his words - a “strange case of bad cramp”. The Notts product was, however, determined not to be sidelined, and had plenty of praise for several team-mates.
“I felt bad leaving the boys in the lurch - I don’t know if it was because I wasn’t drinking enough or if the outfield was different. Whatever reason it was, I was able to get back on with the game in the second innings which was nice. I’m now ready to go for the next couple of games.
“It was a mammoth effort from everyone, especially from Lyndon James in the first innings,” he added, “That six-fer was up there with some of the best bowling I’ve seen in the last few years or so. He’s still fairly young and hasn’t done that third seamer’s role a great deal, but at Surrey he fronted up very well.
“It was great to see that when we were under the pump physically, everyone was able to keep going and do their job.”
Very much a leading man in Nottinghamshire’s current bowling attack, Hutton insisted that anyone can step up to the plate and take charge.
“Anyone can lead the attack,” he said, “we all try to be the main man with the ball and to get the wickets. But if I just bowled alright and the bloke at the other end got all the wickets to help us win the game, then that’s just as good to me.”
Nottinghamshire will commence battle with Hampshire at Trent Bridge on Wednesday 19 July, looking to build on a positive draw at Surrey.