Samit Patel has joined an illustrious cast of Nottinghamshire legends by passing 12,000 first-class runs for the county.
Patel brought up the landmark against Cambridgeshire MCCU at Fenner’s, consolidating his position in the list of Nottinghamshire’s all-time highest run-scorers in amongst the likes of George Gunn, Derek Randall and Clive Rice.
Widely regarded as one of the Nottinghamshire Academy’s biggest success stories, the right-hander made his debut in 2002.
Since then, he has become a mainstay of the Notts middle order and a key player in the county’s greatest achievements this century.
He was a member of the squad which won the County Championship in 2005, and his runs played a vital role in powering Notts to the 2010 title, scoring four fifties and one century.
Patel’s efforts first brought England red-ball recognition in 2012 and he has since taken his tally to six appearances at Test Match level.
A testimonial year was granted to Patel in 2017, underlining his importance to Notts and proving to be arguably the most impressive season of his long career so far.
His four centuries and six half-centuries in all formats helped the green-and-golds win promotion as well as securing a white-ball double.
The all-rounder’s two Championship hundreds in that campaign became match-defining double-centuries, as a career-best 257 not-out against Gloucestershire was followed by a score of 247 against Leicestershire in the very next game.
These performances lead to Patel becoming the first Notts cricketer since Richard Hadlee to win the coveted PCA Player of the Year award.
Patel is under contract at Notts until the end of the 2020 season. He has stated an ambition to continuing playing to the age of 40.
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