Steven Mullaney says Nottinghamshire are eyeing an elevated finishing position in the County Championship table as they head to Kent in the first of three season-concluding fixtures (10 - 13 Sept, 10.30am start).
Mullaney is part of a 13-strong squad travelling to Canterbury, alongside overseas signing and Sri Lankan seamer Asitha Fernando, and the returning Jake Ball.
The skipper feels his side are likely to meet a very different challenge to that which they overcame in the reverse fixture, securing victory at Trent Bridge.
“I think it’ll be a very different team; they’ll have a lot of batters back," he said.
“They had a really young seam attack when we played them at home, having had a few injuries.
“We’ll take confidence from the fact that we won the last game, and we played well as a team, but we know that they are a good team and we’ll have to play well again.”
“The mood in the team has been really good and we’re ready to hit the last three games hard. You always have to look as high as you can possibly finish but we have to be wary of the threats below us as well.
“We’ve got an opportunity to go above Somerset if we get a positive result, so that’s what we’re looking to do."
As county sides begin strengthening for the run-in, Sunday’s opponents have recruited India leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, a talent Mullaney is familiar with.
“I’ve played against him so know a bit about him," he said.
"Teams are obviously wanting to finish as high as they can, or to win the division or get out of the relegation zone, so some quality signings are coming in. We’ll do our research but we’ll be concentrating more on us than on them.”
On their own new addition, Fernando, Mullaney said: “He’s got decent pace, looks to hit the seam and use the pitch as much as he can. Reports from Sri Lanka are that he’s a great lad and hopefully he takes a few wickets in the run-in.
“We’ve had quite a few injuries so we felt like we needed more experience. We’ve got Jake (Ball) back available for this game, so we’ve got four high-quality seamers going into that squad for Sunday.”
Still hoping to claim the top wicket-taker’s accolade for Division One, Brett Hutton’s success over the next three weeks could be indicative of Notts’ final standing in the table, according to the Notts captain.
“I hope he finishes top because, if he is, we will have done well in the final three games in that case," he said
“He’s had a great season so far and he missed a game which I didn’t pick him for, so he keeps reminding me that he could have had 60 wickets by now,” he joked.
“Dane and Brett have been brilliant for us this year so hopefully they’ll finish strong and put us in good positions to win."
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