Mick Newell says Nottinghamshire are treating their final five Specsavers County Championship fixtures as a mini-league, starting with this weekend’s visit of Hampshire.

Notts start the round of matches occupying the second relegation position, four points ahead of their bottom placed visitors and 23 points behind Surrey with a game in hand.

“It’s part of a little mini-league, if you like, of five matches that we’re in at the moment,” said the Director of Cricket.

“We’ve got five games to save our position in Division One. We’re seeing Hampshire as one of those five, rather than trying to identify it as a must-win match in its own right.

“Somerset have gone from seventh to third very quickly, so we’re not setting any targets in terms of where we come in the league, as long as it’s seventh or above.

“There is plenty of time for us to improve our position, but it needs to start soon. It needs to start quickly.”

Jake Ball has been named in Nottinghamshire’s 12-man squad having missed out on final selection for England’s Investec Test Match against Pakistan.

Brett Hutton misses out with a finger injury, with Newell revealing that he’ll select the best bowler in the all-rounder’s place, regardless of his prowess with the bat.

“It will be three out of Ball, Gurney, Wood and Fletcher – three out of those seamers, plus Imran.

“This is going to be a game about taking 20 wickets and getting your best four bowlers.

“The decision for us is about getting the best four bowlers to get the wickets and, if that means Luke Wood playing, it gives us a good number eight.

“If Luke’s not playing, we’ve got to make sure other bowlers contribute as well as they can with the bat.”

Whilst results elsewhere will undoubtedly have a bearing on Nottinghamshire’s eventual league position, Newell is keen that his players focus solely on their own performances.

“From the players’ perspective, they go out with our confidence and backing - all they must do is concentrate on winning games for us,” he said.

“The coaching staff and other people will do the work around looking at what we’ve got to do points-wise.

“The players can only influence their performances, they can’t influence how Surrey, Lancashire and other teams play.”

Since their most recent four-day fixture, which ended in a harrowing defeat against Somerset, Notts have progressed to Finals Day in the NatWest T20 Blast.

While he admits the affect of white ball success on red ball performances is likely to be minimal, Newell has welcomed the feel-good factor in the camp.

“It won’t make us a better four-day team, but it will improve the mood and improve the confidence going into the game.

“I think, had we lost on Monday night, getting the players up again for Thursday & Friday for training would’ve been a much more difficult task. As it is, we’re all feeling confident.”

Nottinghamshire squad to face Hampshire (from): Jake Ball, Luke Fletcher, Harry Gurney, Jake Libby, Michael Lumb, Steven Mullaney, Samit Patel, Chris Read, Imran Tahir, Brendan Taylor, Riki Wessels, Luke Wood.