When Notts Outlaws saw off a spirited Glamorgan display to seal the Yorkshire Bank 40 trophy one year ago, it was the county’s first one day silverware at Lord’s for 24 years.
Now, club captain Chris Read faces the realistic prospect of consecutive Lord’s finals, as the Notts Outlaws will travel to Chester-le-Street to face Durham in the semi-finals of the Royal London One-Day Cup.
With the county also challenging at for the LV= County Championship title, Read has refused to get carried away with talk of trophies.
“Being in and around the professional game for as long as I have been, winning a trophy is a tough thing to do,” he said.
“I’ve always said that the County Championship is the hardest one to win because it’s six months of hard work, following a heavy pre-season too.
“This competition will be a much shorter period of play and from my point of view its great that we’ve got to this stage of the season and are still involved and competing in two.
“Ultimately it would be great to eave with one trophy, even better two, but it’s pie in the sky thinking, we’re a long way from either yet.”
With the fixture at Chester-le-Street the result of a random draw, Nottinghamshire’s players will find themselves making the trip just two days after their LV= County Championship match earlier in the week.
Despite expressing his desire to have played at Trent Bridge, Read is expecting a tough test at a ground where historically the county have found a less-than-happy hunting ground.
“It would have been lovely to have played at home in front of our home crowd, but we’re going away and we know that we’ll have to perform to the best of our abilities to get through what will be a tough tie,” he said.
“This year there has been an extra round of knockout games. Last year we came straight through the group stages into the semi-finals and we’ve got through the first knockout.
We know that if we lose this game we’re out of that competition, and the pressure is on, but likewise, you’re two wins away from winning and retaining this trophy.”