On Friday Notts take part in the Emirates Airline Twenty20 Cup, a one day 20/20 competition which also features Durham, Sussex, a local Fly Emirates X1, plus the MCC.
The tournament, which will be played in Dubai at 7he Sevens Ground, sees Notts drawn against the MCC in the second semi final, giving them a swift chance of revenge following the 174 defeat in the first class fixture played in Abu Dhabi this week.
Notts’ acting Director of Cricket Wayne Noon confirmed that of the 15 players out here he would be selecting from 13, with Charlie Shreck and Mark Wagh remaining behind to get in more red ball practice in the Sheikh Zayed Stadium under the supervision of Mike Hendrick.
Akhil Patel , Scott Elstone and Sam Wood, the three other players apart from Shreck, to miss out on the MCC match will therefore come into consideration.
Opponents MCC will be fielding nine of the players that beat Notts, with Kent’s Paul Muchall, brother of Durham’s Gordon, replacing the injured Steve Kirby and Saurav Ganguly coming in for another former
Indian Test captain, Rahul Dravid, who has returned home to prepare for the IPL.
Ganguly’s presence has helped swell the advance ticket sales beyond the 2,000 mark, so a good atmosphere is likely to greet the players when they arrive after their 60 mile coach journey along the northern coast road.
Durham and Sussex have already played a couple of matches there this week with Steve Harmison and a fit-again Graham Onions spearheading the Dynamo’s attack, whilst the Sharks will include Monty Panesar and former Kiwi international Lou Vincent.
Notts squad: Chris Read (captain), Paul Franks, Neil Edwards, Akhil Patel, Alex Hales, Samit Patel, Ali Brown, Scott Elstone, Steven Mullaney, Jake Ball, Luke Fletcher, Brett Hutton and Sam Wood.
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