Trent Bridge Annual Report 2018

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY CRICKET CLUB 2018 ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS 48 stages. In previous years we have tended to win groups or be near the top, but this year wasn’t such a smooth pathway.Therefore, the defeats in the quarter-finals – whilst disappointing – were not necessarily surprising. We saw some things we weren’t quite happy with and have tried to change by bringing in some young, exciting, dynamic players to freshen it up. Players such as Zak Chappell and Paul Coughlin hopefully have eight to ten-year careers with the Club ahead of them, working with good coaching staff and improving as players. It’s been widely publicised that we had a small squad last year and we were operating with 17 or 18 senior professionals.We’re not looking for too many more than that, but we are looking for increased quality; something we have addressed in our recruitment. That squad will also continue to be supplemented by our Academy and we will promote younger players when the time is right, much like when Lyndon James got his chance this summer.The likes of Lyndon and Jack Blatherwick got first team experience in 2018 and – moving forward – there are opportunities for players such as Chris Gibson, Liam Patterson-White and Sol Budinger to be spoken about in terms of possible selection if their performances warrant it.There is no doubt they are improving quickly under Ant Botha, and they are certainly closer to the first team than if we had 23 or 24 players on our professional staff. Our small squad also meant we tended to stick with players and give them every opportunity to get it right. For example, a number of our batsmen averaged around 30 – meaning they demonstrated the required skill to be successful, but didn’t get the required volume of runs to win matches for the team. Jake Libby is a perfect example of that. He played every four-day game and hopefully will emerge a better player for it. He certainly has experience in red-ball cricket now, so I want to see him grab the opportunity and progress within that side. He also made outstanding strides withinT20 cricket that very few people would have foreseen, sustaining a strike-rate in excess of 140 and playing an important role in a number of the victories that saw us through to the quarter-finals. The performances of Harry and Luke, as mentioned previously, were huge positives.Tom Moores, meanwhile, has been outstanding in taking the gloves from Chris Read; playing in almost every match and producing performances that ensured he was a deserving winner of our Player of theYear Award. And all our overseas players – Ross Taylor, Dan Christian, Ish Sodhi and Kraigg Brathwaite – showed real commitment. We have already secured the signing of Dan for 2019 and would welcome any of the others back in future if that turned out to be possible. I also think the lessons learned by our Club Captain Steven Mullaney – together with the most senior players such as Harry, Luke and Samit Patel – will prove to be hugely important. Steven, in his first year as skipper, did very well. He embraced every facet of the job, wants to be involved in everything and has commanded the respect of a dressing room full of international players. Adding in our new signings, I believe people will be looking at our current squad thinking it’s stronger than last year.There’s more strength in depth and the age profile is better. It’s a squad that will develop and grow. We are looking to be stable and consistent in terms of our coaching staff, our captain and our senior players.We want stability.We are not going to be changing things at that level.What we’ve done is give that leadership group a better and slightly bigger group of players to work with. Our aim is exactly the same as it was in 2018 – to compete for all three trophies.That’s the objective every season – our minimum standard, if you like.We have to make an impact across all three competitions. Maximum standards would be putting trophies in the cabinet, as we did in 2017.That is an ambition that continues to drive us all. Player of the season Tom Moores