Nottinghamshire Story

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Surrey

The only change I made was a tactical one, bringing in Luke Fletcher for the horribly out of form Andre Adams.

We reached a strong first innings total after being put into bat, Michael Lumb showing why he has been one of our most consistent players this season, reaching a fine 117. Paul Franks also made an impressive 57, in what turned out to be a good match for him.

Franks was the main problem for the Surrey batsmen as they reached 253, with his 5 wickets, leaving us a substantial lead.

Unfortnately, we tried to throw the match away again. The batting collapsed to 171 all out, but we were bailed out by the fact that we batted well at the start of the match. Surrey were left with 297 to chase, and plenty of time left to force the result.

It was a close one. This time, another senior player, Jamie Dalrymple, took 5 wickets as Surrey dropped agonisingly short of the total with a session left. Paul Franks took another 3 wickets, cementing his man of the match award. The likelihood is he will retire his season, but he has certainly earned a new contract if he doesn’t.

Either way, the title is almost ours! Middlesex have played all their games, so it’s between us and Durham, who are behind by 16 points. It looks promising. Our last CCD1 match is against Warwickshire. One downside though is that Chris Read got injured in the match and is out for the rest of the season.

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Warwickshire

There is a lot riding on this match, so Hales (back from England duty), and Adams come in, as does Neil Edwards, who should add a bit of experience to the line-up. Ellis, Read and Fletcher miss out. Durham are playing 6th place Sussex at home to finish.

At the end of day 2, we knew we had won the title. We received the news that Durham had only received one bowling point, and had been made to follow on. To say I was happy was an understatement, especially after a low scoring first innings from both Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire. By day 3 it was confirmed; Sussex had won by an innings. And we had 2 full days to chase 200 to win. It couldn’t have been more comfortable. Andy Carter deserves a lot of plaudits in this match on one of the best bowling tracks I’ve played on this season, bowling sensibly alongside Paul Franks, and picked up 9 wickets over the course of the match. The decision to play Neil Edwards worked as well, as he hit a measured 83, to take us into the batting points.

I’m more than happy with how the campaign has finished. If there was any criticism, I would say that we started poorly, and needed to improve, but we became a lot stronger over the course of the season, despite injuries.

Our last match is against Essex in the Challenge Trophy final, and the chance to add some more silverware to the cabinet.

[DaveK93]

Notts vs Essex Challenge Trophy Final

The England lads were available for this match, so Patel, Swann and Broad come in for Dalrymple, Pattinson and Edwards. It leaves me with 7 potential bowlers, 3 of which are all-rounders, but I’m confident the squad will be capable enough.

We took the one day trophy home with style.Another measured performance by Michael Lumb at the top of the order saw Notts reach 196 all out, which was about fair given the pitch conditions. He was ably supported by a Graeme Swann cameo of 29, just to push us nearer to the 200 mark.

However, I could not have predicted what happened next. Some poor running saw Cook and Ten Doeschate both run out, and then the ball was given to Paul Franks. He provided a marvellous display of seam bowling to take 6-30 and single-handedly turned the match around, after it looked like Essex were cruising to victory.

So, we take two trophies this season. I’m fine with this! The next post will have the player stats from this season coming up.

[GrahamB]

There's one trophy in the cabinet!

[DaveK93]

There's one trophy in the cabinet!

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and I got some good transfers in to go for the triple next season!

[DaveK93]

Apologies that I've not put the end of season stuff up yet, I've been fairly busy, will try and post them later on.

[cricfan1]

So Long time after you came

[DaveK93]

So Long time after you came

Huh? Probably missed the obvious but how do you mean?

[DaveK93]

Tables:

This post will just have the table screenshots on for now, I'll follow this up with the seasons overviews for both Nottinghamshire, and also the overview for each competiton, i.e top run scorer, highest score etc.

County Championship:

Division 1:


Division 2:


Challenge Trophy:

Group B:


T20 Cup:


Overall, a successful season. Next season will be an interesting one, with two strong teams in Essex and Derbyshire joining us in the County Championship. Having played both of them last year, and Essex sporting some England internationals, they won't exactly be easy games.

The one day season went well, the only way we could improve is to tighten the batting a bit.

For the T20 cup, we were lucky to qualify, and then were unlucky in the final.I can live with being a finalist, but I'd rather win. Realistically, I need to strengthen all areas of the team for this competition.

[DaveK93]

The Notts Overwiew Post:

Notts FC:


Notts OD:


Notts T20:


The season overviews are down below, due to a limit on screenshots per post.

[DaveK93]

The Season Overview Post:

Season Overview FC:


Season Overview OD:


Season Overview T20:


Next up, transfers and pre-season friendlies.

NB: Just a side note, I've rejected the England job for the season, so I can build my team to a more acceptable level. If they offer me it again this season though, well, I may be a bit more welcoming to it.

[Dutz]

Awesome ...

[DaveK93]

Transfers

OUT:

B Phillips (RET)
A Adams (RET)
A Voges
J Ball
B Hutton
G White
W Osmond (YTH)

IN:
Eoin Morgan
Craig Kieswetter
Dimitri Mascarenhas
A Ireland
N Arif
B Rankin
P Trego
J Denly
Kyle Mills (NZ, full Overseas)
Andre Russell (WI, T20 only)

More than happy with the players I’ve brought in. Morgan and Kieswetter are both big signings, on surprisingly cheap wages, so it seemed logical to have them, as they will add strength, even if they do get the odd call up.

Mascarenhas is an impressive T20 player, and will strengthen the bowling, alongside Ireland, Rankin and Arif, who all had good seasons in the four day game. Trego provides back up as an all-rounder, and Denly will step in for Alex Hales when on international duty.

The overseas players are both bowlers, as that area looked weaker, despite the new additions, because of the guys retiring, so Mills will provide an experienced head, and Andre Russell is a capable T20 bowler, so can hopefully produce some calm, economical bowling.

[Imager36]

Transfers

IN:
Eoin Morgan
Craig Kieswetter
Dimitri Mascarenhas
A Ireland
N Arif
B Rankin
P Trego
J Denly
Kyle Mills (NZ, full Overseas)
Andre Russell (WI, T20 only)

That is a... pretty fantastic line-up of signings! 3 good seamers, 2 good all-rounders, 2 good batsmen and a great keeper, and that's without your overseas players! In Football Manager, of course, you'd have to try and keep Naveed Arif content with his place on the bench, but luckily in ICC no such rule applies

[DaveK93]

That is a... pretty fantastic line-up of signings! 3 good seamers, 2 good all-rounders, 2 good batsmen and a great keeper, and that's without your overseas players! In Football Manager, of course, you'd have to try and keep Naveed Arif content with his place on the bench, but luckily in ICC no such rule applies

To say I was suprised to see Morgan and Kieswetter is an understatement! No guarantee I'll have them for every game, they are both at the IPL at the start of my second season, but for the wages they are on, I'm fine with signing them!

The retirees made these transfers possible though, they were on high wages, and with them gone, I could bring some good players in.

And thank god for everybody staying happy! I've got a larger squad this year than last, rotation would have been a nightmare!