Trent Bridge Annual Report 2018

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT 21 Elected to the General Committee in 1999, Ray went on to serve in a number of roles, including a ten-year stint asTreasurer. Trent Bridge was Ray’s second home. He loved spending time at the ground and was thought of fondly by players, supporters, staff and his fellow committee members – as he was across the county circuit. He continues to be sorely missed. In 2018, we were presented with yet another cliffhanger of a season. After the team escaped relegation by the narrowest of margins, I couldn’t help but look back on some of the small things that ultimately contributed significantly to us playing first division cricket next season. After all, Lancashire were - at one point - deducted a bonus point for slow over-rate. It’s a point that – ultimately – could have secured their place in Division One, at our expense. Having watched us expertly exploit the seam-friendly early season conditions to win two of our opening three matches – all of which were played on the road – a fine home win against Hampshire took us to the top of the table. With such early success, I felt confident that we were on course to comfortably achieve our priority of staying in Division One. However, as the season wore on, it became clear that losing so many frontline batsmen in recent years – JamesTaylor, BrendanTaylor and Michael Lumb among them – had left our batting line-up exposed. Our senior players who had achieved so much the previous year, found that form hard to recapture. Our one further win against Essex kept us near the top of the table despite two preceding defeats, but there were no further wins to celebrate. The last five Specsavers County Championship matches brought four defeats and a draw.Therefore, the closing days of the season saw us anxiously watching the results of other games. Add to that the excitement, but ultimately disappointment, of knockout cricket in each of the white ball competitions - and it seems that following Notts ought to come with a warning for those of a nervous disposition. Over the years, we have welcomed new talent to our Club and enjoyed watching them grow atTrent Bridge. It is for that reason that I’m excited by our latest signings and to find out what effect Ben Slater, Zak Chappell, Joe Clarke and Ben Duckett have on the side in 2019. Let’s also remember that Paul Coughlin was near-on completely robbed of his debut campaign in Nottinghamshire in 2018 by a pre- season shoulder injury. All five of them have my very best wishes for the new campaign. Add that to the talented pool of youngsters we have coming through the ranks – together with the In April, we were all saddened by the death of our colleague and fellow Committee Member, Ray Dawson. R I C H A R D T E NNAN T CHAI RMAN’S REPORT The late Ray Dawson