Olly Stone emphasised the irreplaceable value of match preparation following a strong workout for the Nottinghamshire bowling attack on Day Two of their pre-season friendly against Leicestershire.
Stone claimed two wickets, both lbw, in a tenacious spell as part of a wider effort that saw five Green and Gold bowlers take scalps in dismissing the Foxes for 269.
“It was a good run-out,” said Stone. “That partnership at the end was a good little test for us, and we had to go through some different plans on a pitch that, when the ball got a bit older, didn’t offer loads.
“We had a good day in Abu Dhabi with our bowlers, getting miles in the legs, and now, here today, it’s been valuable. You can’t replicate a day in the dirt, so we’ll be stronger for it!”
Stone in particular drew the positives from the specific test posed by the ninth-wicket pair of Lewis Hill and Ben Green, who added 125 against the ageing ball to double the hosts’ total.
“There are going to be times through the season when things don’t always go your way, but that provided good chances to come together as a unit and talk about how you want to go about things,” he affirmed.
“It was a good test, and the first game back in England is always a useful reminder of what we need to do.”
The seam attack on the second day was led by Dillon Pennington’s three wickets and backed up by two apiece for Stone, Lyndon James, and Conor McKerr.
Stone went into specific detail on exactly what the battery as a whole look to think about during pre-season preparations in order to take as much from the game as possible.
“When the ball doesn’t do as much, it’s about being clever with your fields, and finding different deliveries to get as much out of the pitch as possible, when it’s a bit flatter,” he said.
“We can try different seam positions, variations of effort, little tweaks like that, all with the aim of getting as much out of that surface as possible.”