Nottinghamshire Director of Cricket Mick Newell has revealed that the Club will ready contingency plans should 2015 Overseas bowler Vernon Philander’s injury put him in doubt for the start of the county season.
The South Africa international was only able to bowl four overs in their ICC Cricket World Cup match against India, and Newell, speaking at the Club’s Annual General Meeting, confirmed that he would receive more news following a scan in Australia.
“We’re monitoring the situation closely,” he said.
“We’ll start to think about contingencies, but haven’t spoken to anyone yet.
“You’ve got to have a backup plan. He’s seven weeks from paying for Notts so his injury would have to be a serious one, and hopefully he’ll be back for the rest of the world cup.”
Newell was also questioned by members as to the development of players coming through Nottinghamshire’s academy. He added that the balancing act between introducing local talent and retaining Nottinghamshire’s status as a Division One county is one of his biggest challenges.
“We have to look at similar sized counties – Leicestershire and Derbyshire – and look at what we have they don’t,” he said.
“We’ve got a fantastic ground that brings the expectation we should host Division One cricket.
“We are not Yorkshire. There’s no point comparing us to Yorkshire.
“They’ve got more players and the quality of the cricket played within that county is better.
“I’m very proud we’re going into our eighth straight year in Division One. I would love to get more Notts players in the team, but they’ve got to be good enough.
“Ideally we’ll be in the top half of Division One but that isn’t going to happen with eight local players in the team.
“I’d love to see more local players come through, if they’re good enough.”
The assembled members heard reports from Chairman Peter Wright and Lisa Pursehouse, while Treasurer Ray Dawson reflected on the Club’s accounts for 2014.
Positive Futures Co-Ordinator Mandy Wright and Player Pathway Development Officer Matt Wood recounted the excellent work done by Nottinghamshire’s Community & Development team.
President Ian Hepburn was re-elected for another year in his position.