Notts Outlaws batsman Adam Voges expects the team to mount a credible challenge for a one day trophy next season..
And as t20 captain, Voges will head for Birmingham Airport in little over a week reflecting on opportunities missed as the Outlaws slipped to a knockout defeat after a strong showing in the group stage.
Having secured a home quarter-final in the Friends Life t20, Voges’ Outlaws came unstuck against eventual winners the Hampshire Royals.
“So close, but so far again,” said Voges.
“If it is any consolation the only two teams we lost to this year played in the final.
“We’re improving in our white ball cricket, we are still a young team and there are plenty of positives still to come.”
In a rain affected t20 group stage, the Outlaws had nearly half of their 10 pool matches washed out and narrowly missed out on topping the group.
Ultimately, the crucial match proved to be the rare home defeat to eventual finalists Yorkshire Carnegie.
Having won the toss and chosen to bat, Voges 70 from 57 balls was the highlight was Notts stumbled to 148-6 from their 20 overs. Yorkshire then reached their target inside 18 overs.
“We lost early wickets, I think we lost three wickets in the first six overs which you always struggle to recover from in t20 cricket,” said Voges.
“Credit to Yorkshire, I thought they bowled exceptionally well to restrict us to that and on a good Trent Bridge wicket 140 is never going to be enough.
“You have those days in t20 cricket, we had a lot more good days than bad this year. All we could do was secure a home quarter final and that’s what we did.”
In CB40 cricket, key defeats stalled momentum as the Outlaws remained in contention for the semi-finals throughout the season.
“Losing that first game against Scotland wasn’t an ideal start to the competition and then the rain affected Duckworth-Lewis loss against Glamorgan was a huge turning point in the season,” said Voges
‘”n a competition that is so tight those one or two games are crucial in what I thought was a pretty tough group.”
Having averaged nearly 40 in CB40 cricket and over 50 in t20, the Western Australian’s limited overs season could not have gone much better with the bat.
“A couple of the CB40 innings have been pleasing including the one up in Durham in a bit of a lost cause,” he said.
“I’ve managed to be there at end when we’ve won games, it doesn’t really matter how many runs you get, I always try and pride myself on being there at the end chasing runs.”