COVERED SPRING 2021

23 JOIN OUR MAILING LIST FOR ALL THE LATEST: TRENTBRIDGE.CO.UK/MAILINGLIST BRETT HUTTON there body-wise.You’re never perfect but you have to keep progressing in this environment where there are some very high standards and no excuses for not putting in the work. “I feel that I was on the Academy at the right time with the onset of full-time fitness and conditioning coaches teaching us to lift and giving us the foundation that has become so important ten years on. It’s not one session a week of squats now, it’s three, but for a player ten years ago it might not have been any at all.” Hutton was offered new terms at Nottinghamshire but made a decision to leave, motivated by the likelihood of regular all-format first-team cricket. Mick Newell was keen to keep Hutton at Trent Bridge, having witnessed his consistent form in a 2017 campaign in which he topped Nottinghamshire’s Championship wicket charts with 37 scalps, but failed to make a single white- ball appearance. Northamptonshire remain amongst the most decorated of T20 performers and gained promotion to Division One before the onset of pandemic disruption. They have punched above their weight without the financial clout of Test Match hosting and their success has often been hard for those outside the camp to explain. “The strength of Northants is that the team is packed with natural talent,” says Hutton. “There were always some lazy observa- tions that they looked like a pub team but when you work closely with players like Adam Rossington you realise that they make a massive impact in all formats by taking care of their own game and applying their ability, which is vital for smaller squads with fewer resources. “They get some stick for their fitness and losing a few games heavily but it’s an incredibly talented bunch, which has been shown in their more recent results. They’re certainly not a pub team.” Hutton made an impressive contribution for Northamptonshire, snaring 87 wickets in 22 First-Class appearances over three seasons, 45 of which came in his most fruitful season to date in 2018. A calf and ankle tendon tear disrupted his rhythm in 2019 but he played through the pain with dogged determination to make ten appearances in their promotion campaign. Having left Trent Bridge on good terms, Hutton kept a close eye on Nottinghamshire’s fortunes and always retained an aim to return if the chance emerged. During his absence, there has been a disconnect between Nottinghamshire’s cross-format fortunes. Four victories in 33 First-Class matches and a winless run stretching to June 2018 are belied by remarkable consistency inT20.The brief is clear but hugely complex and demanding; achieve the holy grail of all-format success. Nottinghamshire enjoyed a remarkably consistent period in the Championship following promotion in 2007. Second-place finishes in 2008 and 2009 preceded the Championship win in 2010 and a pattern emerged of seam-bowling dominance in early-season matches at Trent Bridge, with a swinging red ball under cloudy skies and a pitch with enough in it to flummox visiting batsmen. With an absolute focus on red-ball cricket in April and May, any team hoping to be playing in the top divisions come September, and therefore have a chance of winning one of two trophies in the format, will need to make a similarly positive start. “In my final season we were promoted