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Nottinghamshire Director of Cricket Mick
Newell knows the strengths of his squad.
The depth of his seam bowling unit has
consistently ensured that Notts race out of
the blocks in LV= County Championship
campaigns as early-season conditions,
particularly at Trent Bridge, suit the style of
the line-up.
A traditional late-mid-season lull has
become an unwanted feature though and
one that Newell is determined to stamp out
by improving the skill sets of those in the
squad, attracting a quality overseas player
and finding ways to dismiss teams twice on
flat pitches.
“Until the middle of August, we were
very much seen as leading contenders last
season,” said Newell.
“Finishing fifth after a flat end to the season
was disappointing but we look back to
games in July where we failed to capitalise
on winning positions knowing that
international call-ups were going to deplete
us towards the back end.
“Our form in April and May has tended to
be outstanding because we put out our best
eleven with four good quality quick bowlers
that we are selecting from a pack of seven.
“There is a confidence that we can take on
anybody at that stage but we need to get
better at getting people out on flatter pitches
and to do that we need to improve our spin
bowling attack, our seamers need to develop
their skills and we need to re-examine our
tactical approach.”
Newell has recruited Ajmal Shahzad as part
of his plan to pursue a third LV= County
Championship crown during his tenure.
“Ajmal has pace and his recruitment gives
us three genuine quicks alongside Harry
Gurney and Andy Carter,” said Newell.
“He has the potential to play Test cricket
but to fulfil that he needs to take 50 wickets
and we need that to happen because we have
been reliant on the form of Andre Adams.”
Adams
remains
committed
to
Nottinghamshire until the end of the 2014
season, by which time Newell hopes that his
younger charges will have made big strides.
“Batting-wise, we are much stronger than
we were two years ago,” said Newell.
“We have quality young batsmen with drive
and ambition, particularly James Taylor,
Alex Hales and RikiWessels.
“Michael Lumb had an excellent first
season and Chris Read does an outstanding
job for us year after year.
“What we need though is for our younger
seamers to establish themselves amongst the
senior group and the way for them to do that
is to prioritise four-day cricket whilst also
sharing the workload with the white ball.”
An overseas batsman aside, Newell has
no plans for further recruitment despite
releasing Scott Elstone, Neil Edwards and
Karl Turner at the end of last season.
“We probably had too many players on our
books last season,” said Newell.
“We needed to retain some cover because
we had three players with England Under
19s but they are back with us now and we
need to get them closer to the first team.
“We have got confidence in the likes of Sam
Kelsall, Sam Wood, Brett Hutton and Jake
Ball and a strategy to develop more of our
own players.”
With past seasons analysed, lessons learned
and plans in place, Newell has every reason
to look ahead to 2013 with great optimism.
“Our target is always to improve season on
season but we didn’t achieve that last year
which has made us all more determined to
put that right by improving our standing in
all three competitions.
“We’re a competitive side, but we want to be
more than competitive.”
32
The gaffer
“CONSISTENCY IS A STARTING POINT,
BUT WE WANT TO WIN TROPHIES.”
we need
to get better
at getting
people out on
flatter pitches
mick newell