Nottinghamshire mainstay Luke Fletcher has spoken of his desire to drive his hometown club back to where he believes it belongs, after signing a new two-year deal with the Club.
Speaking in the latest episode of the behind-the-scenes series All In, the seamer opened up about his emotions after losing his place earlier in the campaign, and explained why he doesn’t want play anywhere else.
“As players, we’ve underachieved in four-day cricket,” he said.
“The white-ball stuff has been pretty good, so it’s not all doom and gloom, but there is an element of trying to get the club back to where it should be.
“Not only that, I love the club. Missing out on the start of the T20s was a massive blow for me.
“I felt I had a decent one-day campaign, so it was a big dagger. It hit me hard.
“But hopefully I can take my opportunity to get back in the side consistently.”
The 30-year-old spoke ahead of Notts’ T20 clash with Leicestershire Foxes at the Fischer County Ground – a fixture in which he was to take three scalps as the visitors won by seven wickets.
The Outlaws rounded off their bank holiday weekend by triumphing in a thriller against Yorkshire Vikings by three runs to secure their place in the Vitality Blast quarter finals.
In the aftermath of victory, opener Alex Hales told the documentary series that the nailbiting win should stand the side in good stead for the knockout stages.
“Winning tight games can become a habit,” he said.
“If we make finals day, and if the pitches are slower later in the season and you’re defending low scores, we’ve got that confidence now knowing we’ve done it in the past.
“It was a really morale-boosting win heading into the key part of the tournament.”
Elsewhere in episode eight, two homegrown players discussed the upcoming prospect of turning out for rival counties.
With Luke Wood’s move to Lancashire announced after Notts’ four-day defeat to Yorkshire, the left-armer discussed the difficulties he had making the decision to leave the club that had become his home.
“I spent nights writing things down, looking over the pros and cons of both [staying and leaving],” said the 24-year-old.
“The tough thing for me was always to be leaving my boyhood club.
“It would have been an easy decision to stay, purely because that’s what I’ve always known, and it’s comfortable – but I don’t always think comfortable is best.
“Taking myself out of my comfort zone, I think, is the best decision for me.
“My heart lies here until the end of the season, and I really want to see us do well.”
Meanwhile, Samit Patel shared his thoughts as he prepared to play for another English county for the first time, having made over 550 appearances for Notts in all formats.
“I got a phone call from Mooresy (Peter Moores) saying I wasn’t going to be travelling to Scarborough, and he told me that Glamorgan had come in for me on (a red-ball only) loan,” said the all-rounder.
“At this stage of the season, I don’t think it’s right to take the second team spot of a young kid, and the incentive for me was to try and get promotion with Glamorgan.
“Putting on a different shirt and cap and experiencing a new dressing room was different – it will always be sad from my point of view to not be playing in a Notts shirt.
“But the objective is to try and help Glamorgan, and hopefully try to learn from them whilst they learn from me.”
Watch the latest episode of All In here...
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There is just one further opportunity to catch the Outlaws in T20 group stage action at Trent Bridge this summer, with Durham the visitors under the Friday night lights on 30 August.