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“I love helping the young lads and it’s
so pleasing when they take things you’ve
spoken about onto the field.
“Jake Ball, Brett Hutton and LukeWood
this year; it’s been so good to see them go
into pressure situations on the big stage
and deliver.
“They’ve had three-quarters of a season in
the first team now, which stands them in
good stead for the future.
“They know what it takes to succeed and
- if we keep this bowling unit for a decent
period of time - we’ll be close to success, as
the second half of last season showed.
“I know none of them will rest on their
laurels.They want to kick on now, go one
better next year and finish higher up the
table.
“I’d like to win a few more trophies and I
don’t think we’re too far away if we keep
playing like we did for the last two or three
months of 2015.”
Trophies are one way to measure success
as a county cricketer - and Mullaney so
far has two medals having won the LV=
County Championship in 2010, then the
Yorkshire Bank 40 at Lord’s three years
later.
The other widespread aspiration
throughout the county game is to play
international cricket. But, having been
overlooked for the England Lions’
“I’d like to win a
fewmore trophies
and I don’t think
we’re too far away
if we keep playing
like we did for the
last two or three
months of 2015.”
Twenty20 tour this winter, Mullaney
admits it’s not something about which he
is too concerned.
He believes he could do a job at that level
for sure but, should it never happen, there
are NatWestT20 Blast Friday nights at
Trent Bridge to provide his fix of the big
time.
“I didn’t expect to get picked and I’m not
disappointed,” he said.
“But I do genuinely believe I’d do a
decent job. I’d back myself against anyone.
You’re not going to succeed if you don’t
back yourself.
“You never know. I’ll just keep playing
well for Notts. If it’s good enough, it’s
good enough.
“I’ve never played international cricket,
but playing in front of big crowds atTrent
Bridge is the closest thing to it.
“I love playing on the big stage - all the
lads love it - and we’re really grateful to
the members and fans for turning out and
backing us, especially this year when we
didn’t have a great time on the field in the
first couple of months.”
Mullaney had a key role to play in
attracting those big crowds toTrent
Bridge in 2015, which included a
Notts Outlaws record of 13,582 against
Derbyshire.
He starred in the Cricket Has Landed 2
promotional video and was only too happy
to assist the off field team.
“I did get a couple of calls from
Hollywood, but Mick wouldn’t let me go,”
he laughed.
“One thing I will say is the lads from
Affixxius Films are great. It’s late nights,
sometimes until one o’clock in the
morning, but they make it fun and - when
you see the end product - it’s well worth it.
“The first year I thought ‘you can’t get any
better than this.’ But then the second year
I thought ‘jeez, this is unbelievable’ and it
helps us get bums on seats forTwenty20
cricket.”