Two players with links to Nottinghamshire's academy made their debuts in the final game of the season, but Mick Newell says there is a good reason why so few break into the senior side.

Luke Wood and recent recruit Jake Libby both featured against Sussex in the same week Sam Kelsall was released after he failed to make the grade.

When Notts signed Will Gidman, 29, earlier in the season they were on the end of thinly veiled criticism from Gloucestershire for picking off the best players from Division Two teams.

Director of cricket Newell says it is inevitable they will go down that path as they are trying to compete with the biggest clubs in the country.

He said: "We're the same size county as those around us but we are trying to play in a different division at a different level.

"Why would we produce more of our own players than Leicestershire or Derbyshire? If we were in Division Two we would probably produce a similar amount but our team, given the competition we are in, is harder to get into.

"If you're a young player at Leicestershire or Derbyshire it's a lot easier to get into their team than ours. That's obvious to me.

"We are bound to look around for players. We aren't a big county as in numbers of people like Yorkshire or Warwickshire or Lancashire.

"We are a big county in that we're a Test ground. We have to take advantage of having a higher budget. We've got to sustain our cricket at a higher level."

Yorkshire powered to the County Championship title with nine of the 11 that beat Notts having come through their academy, but Newell says it is unlikely Notts will ever be able to match that.

"If you look at Yorkshire then you'll see that just by the volume of cricket alone that's played up there they will have a lot of players," he said.

"Their problem over the years has been keeping the best players. They are good at that now, very good."

Australian international bowler Clint McKay, thought to be a target to become Notts' overseas player in 2015, has signed on with Leicestershire for next season.

Meanwhile, Newell believes James Taylor has the mental strength to shine for England on their One-Day International tour of Sri Lanka next month.

The Notts Outlaws skipper, selected alongside club team-mates Alex Hales and Harry Gurney for the trip, has been rewarded for a fine season in the Royal London One-Day Cup, which included a century off 55 balls at Lord's against Middlesex in the group stages and another ton in the semi-final losing effort at Durham.

"All that we want to see from James is that he can do the things he does so well at county level on the international scene," said Newell, who is one of the four England selectors.

"There are seven games in Sri Lanka so he can be confident he'll get an opportunity to demonstrate the game awareness he has in abundance.

"He handles situations very well, he's adept at working out what a good score is and he has the mental strength to dig in, make good scores and be not out at the end of the innings.

"We've seen a maturity in his batting that is quite rare."