ANNUAL REPORT 2019

MINUTES OF THE 2019 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 53 of Stuart in Notts colours during the first half of the season, after which he hoped everyone would be right behind him in terms of bring- ing the Ashes back to England. Alex Hales continued to play a lot of white-ball cricket for England, sprinkled with his usual flashes of brilliance with the bat – none more so than his century against Australia atTrent Bridge.The club’s best wishes went with him for theWorld Cup. Jake Ball, another full international of recent years, found his opportu- nities more limited in the previous twelve months due to injury and the emergence of other pace bowlers. He was no doubt desperate to win his place back in those teams, which could only be good news for Notts. Four Notts players had recently returned from India with the England Lions – Steven Mullaney, Ben Duckett, Matthew Carter and Zak Chappell – where, at different times, they all took the opportunity to impress Andy Flower and others within the England set-up. In all, the club had a professional playing staff of 19, plus overseas players yet to be revealed. Meanwhile, the Academy had been reduced from 17 or 18 players to 11, as the club looked to focus on quality rather than quantity. Five of those players had been in- tegrated into senior training during the winter months: Chris Gibson, an opening batsman from Cornwall; Lyndon James, an all-rounder from Caythorpe; Sol Budinger, a maver- ick young batsman who grew up in Australia; Jordan Cook, an off-spin- ner from Cleethorpes; and Liam Paterson-White, a left-arm spinning all-rounder.They were all trying hard to earn full-time professional contracts, and there was every chance the members would see a number of them on the team sheet at some stage during the coming season. As those players moved up or moved on in the future, dependent on their potential and performance, more would no doubt step up to Academy level from the age group squads which ran from under-12s to under-17s. For that purpose, Mr Newell was delighted to welcome five former Nottinghamshire players back into the coaching system to develop that talent for the future. It was great to have David Lucas, Jim Hindson, Bilal Shafayat, Darren Bicknell and Jamie Hart involved once more, and Mr Newell took the opportunity of thanking the Nottinghamshire Cricket Board for funding those positions. Turning to the club’s overseas players for 2019, Mr Newell reported that Dan Christian was already in place for the T20 competition as Captain, and he hoped to be able to announce very soon someone to play four-day and 50-over cricket for the club during the first three months of the season. The squad would be heading off to South Africa in March for a pre-season tour and he was pleased to report that – as it stood – every- one was fit to take a full part. Three days of cricket against Northamptonshire would start on 26 March, to which all would be welcome to attend – if they did not mind braving the cold! In closing his report, Mr Newell said that he looked forward to seeing the members at the first competitive game of the season againstYorkshire, starting on Friday 5 April. He then handed over to Head Coach Peter Moores for his thoughts ahead of the new season. Mr Moores opened his presentation by saying that it was great to be getting closer to another English summer and the prospect of playing cricket after another long winter. The thought of a new season – and all the stories and dramas that could unfold – was always exciting. As always, he hoped that by the end of the season the team would have created many memories for the members, as well as for themselves, that would last a lifetime. Much had changed over the last couple of years, both for the squad and in the game in general. It was always sad to see players move on, though it was part of life as a professional sportsman. Mr Moores thanked the departing players for their commit- ment during his time at the club and wished them well in the future. Though it was not possible to stop change, it also provided opportunity – and the 2018 season saw two Academy players make their debuts: Jack Blatherwick in the 50-over competition and Lyndon James in the Championship.Tom Moores established himself behind the stumps and Matt Carter made a real impact in white-ball and Championship cricket. LukeWood also impressed for bothWorces- tershire and Notts and his perfor- mance in the final of the Vitality Blast was a credit to how far he had come as a player. Mr Moores mentioned this to emphasise that he, Mr Newell and the coaching team were passionate about developing Notts players, and it was exciting to see them starting to make a real impression at first team level. Having lost several players, it was also essential to strengthen the squad, and the additions of Duckett, Clarke, Slater and Chappell had done that. All had settled in to training well and to have six players involved with the Lions during the winter – and two players with the main England squad – bode well for the future.The club now had a young squad who would have scope to grow and develop over the coming seasons. One challenge was to settle quickly as a group and develop as a team. This process had been going on all winter and would be accelerated by the squad going away on the pre-season tour to South Africa. A tour was always a great chance to get to know each other and clarify ambitions for the season. The winter itself, he stated, had