ANNUAL REPORT 2019

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY CRICKET CLUB 2019 ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS 24 Sol Budinger performed brilliantly at the top of the order in white-ball cricket which came hand-in-hand with a jump in his maturity as a player. Joey Evison made strides forward and Jack Blatherwick’s standards of consistency with the ball increased markedly. Meanwhile, Lyndon James was impressive in his role as a young and developing captain of the side in all formats of the game. My message overall is that there’s a core group of young players here who are worth our investment. I’m very proud to be playing my part in that and I remind myself on a daily basis that developing cricket skills is the easy part. It’s primarily about building their characters and that takes more time. All the talent is there among those guys to ensure that there’s an end result and that they can enjoy pros- perous careers. Having spent a lot of time in Second XI cricket, Matt Carter is a good example of that. He built his char- acter, was open to learning, put the technical foundations in place for bowling and – on the back of all that – had a run of really pleasing performances in white-ball cricket last season. The next challenges for Matt are to totally understand what being a professional cricketer is about and to nail it over a long period of time in four-day cricket.That’s a more difficult task, but he’s a tremendous talent whose ceiling is ridiculously high. He is someone who can really blaze a trail to show how players can benefit from a concerted period of learning in Second XI cricket. The ambition for 2020 is to see us really progress and to increase our consistency across all forms of the game. Huge shifts will be required in red-ball cricket where the intensity to stay in the contest for longer periods – to execute the skill better and for longer – is critical. And with 50-over cricket being played alongside The Hundred, there are going to be increased opportunities for guys to play List A cricket as well.That’s a whole new level of the game for them to adapt to, but it provides some light at the end of the tunnel and is something to really strive for. Overall, it’s about each and every one of our guys being the most skilled, smart and ruthless cricketers they can be.Those are the values we live by. I wish them all the very best for the new season. “MY MESSAGE OVERALL IS THAT THERE’S A CORE GROUP OF YOUNG PLAYERS HERE WHO ARE WORTH OUR INVESTMENT... DEVELOPING CRICKET SKILLS IS THE EASY PART. IT’S PRIMARILY ABOUT BUILDING THEIR CHARACTERS AND THAT TAKES MORE TIME.” Ant Botha Joey Evison Sol Budinger