Nottinghamshire have shown “resilience and character” to build consistent performances in the Vitality County Championship, says club captain Haseeb Hameed.

The skipper names a 13-man squad to face Lancashire this Sunday (11am) in the second of a two-game mid-Vitality Blast block of red-ball fixtures, with Liam Patterson-White returning from his loan spell at Northamptonshire.

On the back of a consistent and cohesive bat-and-ball performance against high-flying Somerset which earned a valuable draw at Trent Bridge, Hameed reflected with encouragement on his side’s steady progress in the County Championship, the Green and Golds currently sitting sixth in the Division One standings.

“It’s been a good campaign so far - we’ve certainly found our style of play and the qualities that we want to try and bring,” said Hameed, “We’ve put in some really good performances, especially in the last four of five days we've played in terms of consistency.

“We’ve shown resilience and character in abundance in a number of games. We’ve not got as many wins as we’d like, but we’ve played some really good cricket recently. That’s been important to me, and hopefully the results will come with that.”

The club captain spoke of how a continuous internal focus has been crucial in unlocking the game-changing individual and team performances - a first-innings five-fer - and best club figures yet - for Dillon Pennington and an unbeaten 168 for Ben Slater being the latest standout achievements.

“One thing we’ve tried to do is focus on ourselves a little bit more and on what we can bring to the table when we go out and play,” he added.

“Lots of great things have come out of the group and that all came organically, I think everyone’s bought into what we’re trying to do.

“We always recognise and respect the strengths of the opposition that we’re playing against, but ultimately we back ourselves to bring our best game and that has put us in good stead.”

Victory - and, in turn, a red-ball double - over the weekend’s opponents could lift Notts to fourth in the Division One table.

“I think it’s a testament to the quality of cricket that we’ve played,” Hameed said, “We feel we ought to be pushing up towards the top half of the table at the very least. We have that level of expectation - I certainly do for myself - about the level of cricket we want to play.

“If we play to the levels that we know we can, we can beat any team in the division.”

A double centurion last time out against Lancashire, Hameed added another ton in the rain-affected fixture at Worcester to earn May’s John Pye Auctions Player of the Month award.

Hameed is joined by Joe Clarke, Will Young, Lyndon James, Ben Duckett and - most recently - Ben Slater in the list of Nottinghamshire centurions in 2024.

“I feel really good and thankfully I’ve been able to put in some contributions and spend some time in the middle. I’m just trying to contribute to the team as much as I can," he said. 

“It’s really important as a top order to try and make these big scores. It’s not always possible with the conditions we sometimes face, but it’s been really pleasing that we’ve had a number of contributions this year that have been big ones.

“Even in the second team, in the last game Sammy King got a big score and Freddie McCann got a double hundred. It’s something we’re trying to continue pushing at the club.

“Division One feels more competitive than it has done for a while. One result, either way, could have quite a big impact on where we end up in the table.

“At times during a few games, we’ve been on the back foot, but in a lot of those draws we have played some really good cricket. It’s been pleasing from that sense, and it feels like a really competitive table right now.

“As for this game, we’re trying to focus on putting a good performance in and improving on the things we’ve spoken about ahead of the game.”