Lisa's Letter to Members

 

As the days begin to lengthen, and with spring officially arriving this weekend, I am writing to provide an update on club matters and on our preparations for the new season.

As you may be aware, the club hosted its AGM online via Zoom in late February. We hope that those of you who were able to attend found it suitably enlightening on the challenges we have overcome in the past year and on our plans for 2021.

We have received positive feedback from members, glad of the ability to take part in the meeting from home, and we will explore ways to extend this to other events in the future.

The AGM marked Richard Tennant’s final duties as Chairman after a five-year tenure, as he stepped down both from that role and his position on the committee after two decades of sterling work. I’m sure you will join me in thanking him for his contribution to the club.

Richard Stevenson and Diana Peasey were both re-elected to the General Committee, and we also welcome two new members, whose appointments were confirmed by the newly-formed Nominations Panel: Dr Ravi Badge, an orthopaedic consultant with a professional interest in sports injuries, and Nottinghamshire Premier League Chairman Andy Hunt.

Jeff Moore, who served as Vice-Chairman and who has enjoyed a long career in the private and public sectors, was subsequently appointed Chairman.

Richard Stevenson will take on the role of Vice Chairman, while Basher Hassan was awarded a second year as President.

At the very same time that our meeting was taking place, the Prime Minister was announcing the country’s, albeit provisional, roadmap out of lockdown.

The first stage saw young people return to the classroom earlier this month, with outdoor recreational sport to follow on 29 March. This will allow our community team to step up its work in ensuring that cricket is an accessible and enjoyable sport for all, as well as enabling the work of our charitable Trust in supporting the mental health, wellbeing and future employability of those who need it within our communities.

The accompanying announcement in relation to the return of crowds to venues such as our own was, whilst encouraging, somewhat more complex.

The operational, logistical and safety requirements involved in hosting matches with social distancing in place are multi-faceted and there remains a great deal of detail to be worked through.

You, as our members, will of course be given first priority for a return to Trent Bridge and the indication from the government was that this will be permitted from 17 May.

The situation is fast moving and should there be a possibility of pilot events beforehand or the need to allocate seats for any reduced capacity fixtures, we will communicate the arrangements at the earliest opportunity.

In the meantime, we are working to ensure that our live stream once again provides the best possible digital experience, and our five days of home pre-season cricket – from 24-26 March against Oxford University and 2-3 April against Leicestershire – will be made available to watch online. We will continue to provide our comprehensive streaming service even after the planned return of full crowds, which we anticipate will be after 21 June.

This second portion of the season will comprise Vitality Blast, Royal London Cup and First-Class cricket – including our home County Championship encounters in August and September, in the divisional stages of the competition.

While our opposition for those final four-day games, and details on which fixtures will be played at home, are still to be confirmed, we do know that the four rounds will take place from 30 August-2 September, 5-8 September, 12-15 September and 21-24 September.

The red-ball season will then conclude with the Bob Willis Trophy final at Lord’s between 28 September and 2 October.

Our marquee at Lady Bay has enabled the squad to practice on grass pitches since February, and our aim is to be competitive on the field across all formats of the game. Our professional squad, together with our Academy, have been working hard throughout the winter to that end.

Since the AGM, you may have noticed the announcement regarding Haseeb Hameed becoming our Vice-Captain and taking on the task of leading our Royal London Cup team.

We have also been able to reveal a new three-year contract for homegrown fast bowler Jake Ball, which will take his professional career with Notts past the 15-year mark. This, coupled with the close-season signings of Brett Hutton and Toby Pettman, should ensure that our seam bowling stocks have sufficient depth and quality to navigate the summer months.

As well as the first team action, we are also planning a full schedule of Second XI cricket this summer. The same lockdown restrictions will apply as for first team fixtures; however, we will keep you updated on the team’s early season progress via our website and social media channels.

With the return of Test and International T20 cricket to our venue, together with four men’s and women’s double-headers in The Hundred and the final of the Royal London Cup, developing plans to deliver memorable major match cricket is also at the forefront of our minds.

Above all, we are remaining positive – and with the opening fixture of the LV= Insurance County Championship season now just a couple of weeks away, we are firmly focussed on the task of returning you all to our venue at the earliest opportunity.

Your membership packs, together with a new edition of Covered magazine, will be landing on your doorsteps in the coming days.

We can’t wait to welcome you back to Trent Bridge.

Kind regards,


Lisa