With his first winter as Club Captain complete, Haseeb Hameed is excited to put his plans into motion when Nottinghamshire and Essex begin the summer of domestic cricket at Trent Bridge tomorrow.
He names 14 players in his first squad as permanent skipper, with Dillon Pennington and Jack Haynes both in contention to make their Vitality County Championship debut for the Green and Golds (11am start).
On matchday-minus-one, Hameed assesses the progress he has witnessed over the off-season.
“We’ve had a long winter working hard to prepare for this,” said Hameed, “The boys are ready, the work has been done. It’s now a case of just going out there and trusting in what we’ve done so far.
“We used our pre-season meeting to connect as a group and committing ourselves to how we want to play. We didn’t want to look too far ahead to results and outcomes - first we want to buy into a way that we want to go about our business.”
With six months to rest, recuperate and then rebuild momentum for the English summer, the winter is a long period of time without competitive minutes for those who stay put in West Bridgford.
The skipper knows all too well that it is an equal opportunity to reflect as well as to train.
“If you’re not away playing franchise or international cricket, you’re generally training in short, dark days,” he continued.
“There was plenty of time for reflection on the season we’ve had and now we’re using that to look ahead to the upcoming year. It’s exciting to be finally here, ready to put all that we’ve discussed into practice.
“It has been great to be finally playing some games on grass - here and in Abu Dhabi. After being in nets for so long, you just want to step out of that and get your competitive juices flowing again.”
Taking the captaincy into the winter has provided Hameed with ample time to consider his approach to gameplay and personnel alongside Head Coach Peter Moores. Recruitment has seen three new faces come through the gates in Dillon Pennington, Josh Tongue and Jack Haynes, as well as the re-capture of New Zealand international Will Young for seven more games later in the campaign.
The new additions have provided a fine balance to the squad, but character is equally important to Hameed.
“Last year, what we did really well was be tough to beat,” he said, “If you want to be one of the best teams, you have to be resilient and become tough to beat when things aren’t going your way. We have shown that many times last season and if we show this trait from the get-go, we should do well.
“We’ve lost some big players at the back end of last season - Mull (Steven Mullaney) who stepped down as captain and has since taken on a different role, as well as Stuart Broad, Samit Patel and Jake Ball. I wouldn’t necessarily say we have a better squad on paper, but there are now more opportunities that have opened up and we’ve signed some exciting players who are hungry to get better and improve their game.
“Ultimately it’s been quite a few months thinking about our options and how we move this club in the right direction. I’m still very new to the role so there will still be plenty of learnings along the way.”
Runners-up to Surrey in last year’s edition of the County Championship, Essex offer a wealth of threats as they look to make another title challenge.
The weekend’s fixture at Trent Bridge, Hameed says, is the perfect way to commence a new summer of cricket.
“A lot of our focus is on us, and we know that the first game is not the be-all and end-all - it’s one of a 14-game season,” he said.
“We’re looking forward to getting out there to do battle and we’ve enjoyed our games against them over recent years. It should be a great occasion.”
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