Notts openers put up similar numbers in 2024 and they finished beneath us though? Alex Davies was the 2nd highest run scorer in the division that year. We were 7th, they were 8th.
Ben Slater and Haseeb Hameed are extremely good openers and have had a couple of good years I think this Notts team is excellent all round though, a strong battery of seam bowlers, some of whom have genuine pace. And they're young. In Liam Patterson White they have a solid spinner who can make big runs with the bat from number 8. Farhan Ahmed coming through aswell to give a further spin option. Lyndon James a seam bowling all rounder. Notts recruit heavily but 3 aforementioned are all homegrown, credit to them. They've lots of players who are really good but probably won't get called up by England, that's key. A middle order who convert starts.
I think they're a lot better balanced outfit than Surrey ever were lately. Surrey always seemed to be 100-5 before the tail would get them upto 330, somebody from 8 to 11 always made runs be it Clark, Joverton, Atkinson or whoever, and then the seamers took over. Generally relied of part time spin. Won 3 County Championships.
Just think Notts are a good all round team who have recruited heavily but also seem to have got their own academy working. Core of the squad has been together quite a while too. Patterson White, James, Hutton, Slater, Hameed, Joe Clarke have all been together quite a few years now, 6 or so I'd say. Steven Mullaney and Paul Franks as ex players now coaches obviously know the club inside out. Mick Newell too. They've stuck by Peter Moores through some pretty average times, some not so long ago. He's been head coach since 2016, with Newell as DoC, just think of all the change and upheaval we've had in that time.
Our issue is, and I've said it before, is that we seem to have too large a turnover in staff (players and coaches) every 2 or 3 years. Different bowling coaches, different bowlers, different head coaches, different Director of cricket (we're on our third one since 2021) etc...only Yates, Hain and Woakes remain from the side that won the Championship in 2021. We've just got no continuity and until we do we'll always feel like we're in a transitional phase.