2025 Annual-report

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY CRICKET CLUB 2025 ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS 54 win games of four-day cricket. Mr Newell was sure that members would join him in wishing them both all the best for the future. In 2024 Kyle Verreynne, too, proved a positive late-season addition, and the club was delighted to have secured his services for a longer period of time in 2025. He would also have a role to play in securing the crucial commodity of first-innings runs to put Notts in a position to win games, rather than merely save them. In the Blast, the Outlaws were tasked with finding their feet having lost several senior players, but that didn’t materialise as all had hoped. Whilst no one could guarantee qualification or success every year, better performances than those produced this year should certainly be the expectation, Mr Newell said. The signings of all-rounders Daniel Sams and Moises Henriques would no doubt help in those key moments of the game - especially with the amount of experience we had lost in recent times as the likes of Fletcher, Mullaney, Patel, Hales and Ball had moved on. The club was by no means closing the door on Alex Hales making a return at some point in the future. His contributions in white-ball cricket for Notts were unrivalled. Even in the midst of a difficult T20 season, the likes of Liam Patterson- White, Sammy King and Freddie McCann took their opportunities to impress last year, Mr Newell continued, and the club would be hoping for more of the same from them, and for key contributions from our established players. In the One Day Cup, we had lost fewer players toThe Hundred than in recent years, but were rarely able to prevail in the important phases of games. On the bowling front, Rob Lord had served as a notable highlight from the campaign and earned his long-term contract as a high-ceiling multi-format cricketer, but, by and large, performances were not consistent enough. The club did not underestimate the importance of this competition – particularly with the prospect of a Trent Bridge final. Our One Day Cup team would be led in the summer of 2025 by Paul Franks – a man who knew better than anyone the standards expected of a Nottinghamshire cricketer, and who had earned this opportunity to take the next step as a leader in our set-up. Paul Franks, Peter Moores and the rest of the coaching staff knew that a club of our stature demanded a level of performance and results, and that we must improve this summer. Meanwhile, at the pathway level, MattWood and his team had continued to produce players capable of making the step up to senior cricket. Almost half of our existing senior players had come through the Nottinghamshire County Age Groups or the Academy, Mr Newell said. Five of those had graduated in the last year alone – including our most recent graduates,Tom Giles, Sam Seecharan andTravis Holland. Nothing gave the club greater pleasure than seeing our pathway products succeed – especially if they progressed to the international stage, as four did last year. We were well represented at all levels of the England men’s setup, while a number of our women’s players were included in England senior and age-group squads. There were also call-ups from The Blaze camp to the Scotland and USA national teams – and such strong international recognition was testament to the levels of performance the team delivered across the summer. While we were all proud of The Blaze’s achievement in winning the Charlotte Edwards Cup last summer, what was equally impressive was their consistency as a team. Over the past two years, they had lost only twoT20 matches, whilst their record of reaching three con- secutive finals was quite remarkable. And while a place in the knockout stages of last year’s Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy eluded them, they showed commendable resilience in battling back from a tough start to the summer to stay in contention until the last round of fixtures. That resilience was typified by Kirstie Gordon, who had continued to grow as a captain, while Kathryn Bryce enjoyed the season of her life, capped by being named PCA Women’s Player of theYear. We were now home to four centrally- contracted EnglandWomen’s players, with Amy Jones becoming our latest addition with international pedigree. The club hoped that the new structure for women’s cricket, and expanded fixture list, would allow them to feature more regularly this season. Overseas players Orla Prendergast and Heather Graham would also return, while Georgia Elwiss was one of five other new faces for 2025 - including Olivia Baker, who had progressed through the Notting- hamshire setup. There was a new coach too in Craig Cumming, who had joined us after leading Otago Sparks to back-to- back 50-over titles. There was a real feeling of momentum behindwomen’s cricket at the moment, Mr Newell said.The Blaze’s fixture atTrent Bridge againstThunder in 2024 attracted nearly 5,000 people through our gates, and we would be hosting seven ofThe Blaze's games this summer, including four double- headers. They were very much a part of our club, representing our county on the domestic stage, and Mr Newell knew the players would really appreciate the members’ support as they embarked on their first Tier