Director of Cricket Mick Newell has challenged Kevin O’Brien to make his case for a permanent contract with Nottinghamshire in their remaining games in the NatWest Pro40 this season.

The Outlaws resume their campaign against Worcestershire at Trent Bridge tomorrow after a three-week break due to the fixture list.

That break means they lie bottom of Division One after losing against Essex and sharing a point each with Somerset, as all the other teams have played at least two more matches.

O’Brien returns to Trent Bridge after a spell on international duty with Ireland and will have an important role to play with bat and ball against a Worcestershire unit who have performed well in one-day cricket this summer.

Said Newell: “With the increase in the amount of Twenty20 and 40-over cricket we will be playing next year, Kevin has an opportunity to make a name for himself.

“They are two formats of the game in which he can make an impact. At this stage we’re not sure how many of the remaining fixtures he will be available for, but hopefully he can play a big part in what’s left of the season.

“We haven’t played Pro40 for a while and if we want to win it, we will probably need six victories out of six.

“That is a big ask and with the way our remaining fixtures fall, it will be a case of picking the best team available for each match, while also assessing the workload.

“For instance, we’re going into this game straight off our four-day game at Worcester, and next week play Yorkshire and Sussex with another Championship game sandwiched in-between.”

Squad:
Matt Wood, Ali Brown, Alex Hales, Samit Patel, Scott Newman, Bilal Shafayat, Chris Read (capt/wkt), Kevin O’Brien, Paul Franks, Mark Ealham, Darren Pattinson, Andy Carter, Jason Brown.