COVERED WINTER 2020

17 JOIN OUR MAILING LIST FOR ALL THE LATEST: TRENTBRIDGE.CO.UK/MAILINGLIST JAKE BALL WORK REST & PLAY WITH THE OUTLAWS Book your club tour at West Bridgford today, call 0345 129 6810 or come down and see us: Rugby Rd, West Bridgford, Nottingham NG2 7HX leave the field, Ball removed Lancashire’s dangerous Steven Croft in the semi-final, before dismissing Surrey’sWill Jacks and Jason Roy in the showpiece. The wicket of England opener Roy, and the subsequent eye-bulging roar as the contest turned back in the Outlaws’ favour, demonstrated the substance behind Ball’s talk of passion for the club. “To come off the back of last year and end up as the Blast’s leading wicket-taker, and have probably my best year inT20 cricket, was massive,” he says. “It was great to be able to go out there and express myself. “To not have members, fans, friends and family there was disappointing – my mum, my dad and my girlfriend would all have been there in a normal year, and I remember it being really nice to share the celebrations with them when we won in 2017. “But the one thing we wanted to do this year was make Notts proud. It’s a difficult time for a lot of people, so to be able to bring a little bit of happiness to the fans and the people of Nottingham… it probably makes this one of the more special trophies we’ll ever win.” And that, for the winter of 2020 at least, is where the story of Jake Ball rests. But it’s more of a pause than an endpoint; more a comma than a full stop. Just as his personal life continues to move along – with a comprehensive renovation of a new house on the cards, possibly inspired by a lockdown-TV diet of a little too much Grand Designs – so too the evolution of Jake Ball will carry on. A senior player he may be, but when Dan Christian called the ‘oldies’ together for a dressing-room photo with theVitality Blast trophy, Ball was still able to demur and wait for a snap with the under 30s. Those tallies of appearances, wickets and trophies in green and gold are far from finalised. And you get the feeling that, as the decades pass, Ball’s enthusiasm and passion will still find a place atTrent Bridge – whether from the Pavilion or the dressing room, from the offices or the Radcliffe Road Stand. Jake Ball is Nottinghamshire – mind, body and soul.