Nottinghamshire all-rounder Sam Wood is treating tomorrow’s Second XI T20 double header with Lancashire as a final opportunity to ‘do something out of the ordinary’, in order to earn a shirt for the NatWest T20 Blast opener against the Birmingham Bears.
The 23-year-old has begun the season in fine form for both club and county, averaging 50 with a century and two fifties in the Second XI Championship in 2016 to date.
And while he’d love nothing more than to make his seasonal first team bow against the Bears on Friday, Wood isn’t allowing the quest for selection to transmit into pressure.
“I feel really good with the bat at the moment and I’ve taken a few wickets with the ball as well, so I’m pretty happy with where my game’s at,” he said.
“Form is quite a weird thing. I don’t really know how you get in to it or how you get out of it, but it’s a great feeling when you’re playing well, especially when it helps the team win.
“I guess it’s about the hard work I’ve done in the winter with the batting and fitness coaches.
“It’s just a case of continuing to put figures on the board – keep scoring runs, keep taking wickets, keep enjoying myself and see where it takes me.
“I’d love to play, but I’m not worrying about it,” Wood added on prospective selection for Friday.
“Every game in the second team is a great opportunity, there’s never a time when it’s not, but tomorrow against Lancashire twos is a great chance to first of all get two wins, and hopefully do something out of the ordinary with bat, ball or in the field.”
Although county fixture scheduling means opportunities to practice white ball skills can be scarce, Wood seems to have been using Nottinghamshire Premier League appearances for Plumtree to find his big hitting range, albeit against the red ball.
In four matches for his new recreational club, Wood has plundered 230 runs at an average of 57.5, including a century and a fifty.
Most notably, his Saturday strike rate is in excess of 146, albeit he’s rather be turning on the style in front of packed houses at Trent Bridge.
“The atmosphere for the games I played at Trent Bridge last year was literally incredible,” he said.
“The crowds are amazing, I get a real buzz from it and I know the other lads do as well – they love performing in front of that home crowd.
“We’ve got a terrific squad as well, so hopefully we can reward the support by challenging to win it.”
Wood has played a larger part than most in attracting the crowds to Trent Bridge, having starred for three successive years in the Club’s Cricket Has Landed promotional videos.
“In previous years during the filming, you could kind of imagine how it was going to look,” he said.
“With this one, we had no idea because we were in a room with a big green screen without knowing what they would do with it.
“It was nice to be involved again and, over the course of the three videos, I don’t think the story line could have been setup any better.”
Notts Outlaws NatWest T20 Blast Fixtures & Ticket Information
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