COVERED WINTER 2020

19 @TRENTBRIDGE “HE’S THE MOST EXTREME EXAMPLE OF A PLAYER WHO WILL VERBALLY EXPRESS HIS BELIEF THAT HE’S GOING TO WIN ANY PARTICULAR GAME.” Mick Newell Nottinghamshire are sauntering to defeat in one of 231 First-Class appearances for Samit Patel.They don’t have a prayer of salvaging anything from the game, but our protagonist is providing some stubborn resistance in partnership with the tail-enders. Needing serious runs with not a lot for company, it’s a dead game. At tea, most of the squad have packed their bags to watch the last knockings. As they queue for food at tea, Samit works his way along the line re-assuring everybody that he’ll find a way to win. “Bally, Fletch, I’ll knock these off. I’m feeling good, no problem.” “Mull, I’ve got this you know.” “OK mate, it’s looking tough from here, but good luck.” Notts go on to lose the game and this particular tale of triumph against all odds never came to pass. It serves though, to underline an extreme character trait that has propelled Samit to the very top of the county game with 60 England appearances to boot; his self-belief is beyond comprehension. Even those closest to him have never quite worked out if he believes half of what he hopes to do with bat or ball in hand. Director of Cricket Mick Newell has seen numerous positive examples of match-winning strength of mind since handing the now stalwart all-rounder his professional debut in 2002. “Samit has the hide of a rhino and I’m not aware of any other cricketer that, when he’s in the moment, won’t even acknowledge the possibility of defeat,” said Mick. “Whatever Samit goes through and whatever you say to him, you won’t knock him down. He will always come back fighting. “There are games he’s helped us to win and there are games he’s won on his own. He’ll be remembered for that match-winning ability as much as he’s remembered for his statistics. “He was in our second eleven at 14 when he got Michael Lumb LBW and we could see that he was a talented cricketer, but the subtle difference between him and others is that he’s a games player and he’s always looking for ways to win when he’s losing. “He’s the most extreme example of a player who will verbally express his belief that he’s going to win any particular game. “He’ll want to talk about it and he’ll want everybody to hear it rather than just get on with it. “He’s backed that up over the years and I actually think he’s a better match-win- ner now than he was five or six years ago when he’d get you somewhere near and Chris Read or JamesTaylor would finish it off. He needs to be the finisher now. “It’s a two-year contract with the expec- tation that he’ll focus on the white ball, but I know that he’ll be in the red-ball nets in March because he loves the game and wants to practice and play as much as he can for as long as he can. “He doesn’t like the fact that he’s slid down the batting order, but he does understand the strength of the team. He’s even said to me that he wants his batting role to be detailed in his contract, which we can’t do, but I appreciate the fact that we can tell each other anything and have that challenging conversation.” The man himself feels that his confi- dence is both learned and earned. “I played cricket from a very young age and as I played more and won more, I developed a belief that I could win games from increasingly difficult positions,” says Samit, as he contemplates another winter fishing for contracts in cricket’s global T20 gig economy. SAMIT PATEL