Notts Member Forum 2018 No. 2

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE MEMBERS FORUM 4 SEPTEMBER 2018

 

 The panel consisted of Lisa Pursehouse (LP) Peter Moores (PM), & Mick Newell (MN) and was overseen by Colin Hazelden.

 

 As there were no new items of news for the club to pass on to the members the forum was to be a question and answer session.

 

 Why had the team and especially the batting under-performed this season?

PM – The club was in transition and over the last twenty four months they have tried to introduce new players. However a number of senior players had not performed. The club has lost a lot of senior players but are actively looking for new players.

 However for a team in transition there were a number of positive points including the form of Jake Libby in T20, the overall performances of Tom Moores and the introduction of Matt Carter to all three formats. Also there is good improvements in the second team and a couple of players have played for the under 19s. The dressing room is fine but the bottom line is the fact that the players have not produced the results, and that is frustrating.

 

 The next question was about the fixture schedule being uneven over the season, and would it change in 2019. This question was jointly answered by LP & MN, who stated that the membership has already been told why this had occurred due to the building works at the start of the season and the fact that the club had held three international matches this season.

 There is likely to be issues in 2019, due to the staging of five World Cup matches at Trent Bridge between 31^st May and 20^th June. Nottinghamshire will not be able to play any matches at Trent Bridge for about six weeks during this time, and LP stated that Trent Bridge will not be available until about the 27^th June. As the fixture schedule is unknown at this stage they could not be more precise but MN envisaged that there will be more 4 day cricket in June and July in 2019 that there was in 2018.

 

 The next question was around why Nottinghamshire gave up the staging of the T20 Finals day to Edgbaston without consulting the members. LP stated that they would never consult the members on an issue like this but that Nottinghamshire got a good deal for it, gaining an extra ODI, and that they could not compete with the 25,000 capacity offered by Edgbaston, against the 17,500 at Trent Bridge and that we could not offer four dressing rooms.

 

 The next question revolved around the size of the Trent Bridge Shop and especially the lack of a good online website for purchasing items compared to other test match grounds like Edgbaston and Old Trafford, and also that the shop did not stock items for members who required large size clothing etc. This question was passed over to Michael Temple who answered one of the two questions. He stated that most clothing stock is valid for a season only and that any remaining stock at the end of the season can affect the profit for the club. Therefore they specialise in items that they can sell. LP stated that the club were in the process of conducting an investigation into the areas quoted but did not elaborate as to whether there were any plans to improve the internet sales part of the club website.

 

 The next question was about the recent building works and whether it was completed within budget. LP  said that it was but the final part of the development would be open at an unknown date between November 2018 and January 2019.

 

The club had just signed two new batsmen so will any of the current senior players  be leaving at the end of the season? PM answered the question by stating that most of the senior players will still be under contract but due to recent departures the staff was actually one of the smallest on the county circuit.

 

 Why had there been no weekend day time T20 Blast matches at TB during 2018, when this is the time that youngsters can attend?

 LP stated that because of the dates of the international matches this had not been possible. She would like to see these matches occur even though the club get their largest crowds on a Friday evening. The only way the club could have done this was to have given up the home championship match with Surrey which started on a Sunday, but if the club had done this they would have gone even longer without a championship home game.

 

 The next question was why so few batsmen have moved from the Academy to the first team. MN answered this question and said it was unfair for PM to answer it because he had only been at the club for three years. Samit Patel was the last player to follow this path, and the club had been trying to free up space in the top three places in the second team for batsmen. They do not strive to just only produce bowlers but that is what has recently happened. He cited Lancashire as a club who produce all rounders rather than batsman. This is where Steven Mullaney came from and could not get into the Lancashire team when he joined Nottinghamshire. He then mentioned the names of the top order batsmen in the current second team, including Gibson, Budinger and James. He did also state that the lack of batsman, especially since the emergence of T20 was a problem for the England team, as well as Notts, which he knew well being a former selector.

 

 The next question was about the cost of Pavilion seats for the ODI against the cost of World cup games. It was quoted that they were about £45 for the ODI v Pakistan and £125 for the World Cup. LP stated that the club have no input into the prices of ODI tickets and they were decided elsewhere because it is a global competition.

 

 Were the club likely to make any more signings, especially as the club have been linked with a batsman currently playing for Worcestershire? MN stated that they might in bring in more players, and that they may be interested in a player currently playing for a midlands county. However any player that we sign must be division one standard and that people need to realise that the standard they are playing this season is much higher than the one they played last year in division two. JAG

September brings the second and last of the Members' forum at Trent Bridge for the year. The one they hide on a work day and ask to be judged by their results so far...

It will be held on Tuesday during lunch on day one against Yorkshire.

The fixtures have been awful this season with so little weekend Nottinghamshire cricket and none in September, but why is that?

White ball cricket: PM/MN will say that the club achieved the minimum requirement, making the knock-out stages of both competitions....

The bare minimum just, but as reigning champions of both competitions at the start of the season, making a step or two backwards, in the wrong direction, in terms of (squad and performance) improving year on year, which ought to be the aim every year, and campaigns that both included too many poor performances, including the two defeats at the knock-out stages.

Red ball cricket, they will say has been hampered by injuries and perhaps it has but the impact of those injuries have been heightened by the lack of squad size and depth, following poor recruitment (previously griped about in other postings). The signatures of Slater and Duckett is a case of too little, too late Mr Newell for 2018 and does nothing to address the lack of pace in our bowling attack.

Questions that will be brushed aside also:

 Why did we sign Chris Nash on a 3 year contract when he is clearly well beyond his Best Before Date?
What is the use of Mark Footitt, if we can't get him on the field?
Why are so many players out of form now and have been for the whole season in some cases?
Is it time Samit was rested/dropped?

But of course, Lisa will save her fellow panellists explaining at length why she decided charging £10 for potentially one ball of play was a good idea and why, going against common sense and logic did the club sell day 5 tickets in advance, was it just through pure greed? After full explanation, with graphs of projected cash up turns displayed on a screen etc, etc then there won't be any time left for any other questions anyway!

.........................................................................................................................

In recent article in the Nottingham Post, Mick Newell spelled out the recruitment procedure at the club (spreading the blame in the process) in it he said that Peter Moores and Paul Franks highlight players of interest, go through the procedure of talking to the target player and then it's his (Newell's) role to talk money with the player.

"Money is rarely an issue. You rarely get one team blowing another out the water with wages."

"We sell Notts on Trent Bridge, a record of success and quality coaching. People have to earn a living, but there's more than one reason to sign somewhere."

"I don't think money is very often a factor. I think location is more often."

"Players don't want to come north sometimes. Players might have a family reason to go somewhere, that was the case with Jennings."

Do we assume then that Sam Northeast didn't want to move North in that case? He has a very unfortunate name in that is so!

The article went on the acknowledge that Notts have acquired two of their three target signings, Zak Chappell is the third, already and the Post's writer mentioned the possibility of looking a bolster the middle order with Joe Clarke gaining a "mench".

Matt Carter, Will Fraine, Ben Kitt and Matt Milnes are all out of contract at the end of this month; only Carter and Milnes are considering fresh terms from Notts at the moment.

https://www.nottinghampost.com/sport/other-sport/how-nottinghamshire-sign-players-who-1949892