Lyndon James admitted frustration in Notts’ 30-run loss to Durham at Seat Unique Riverside, despite a personal performance which saw him collect his best T20 figures in a Notts shirt.
The homegrown seamer took 3-31, including the wicket of former England opener Alex Lees, as the hosts scored 160 batting first.
The Outlaws were then bowled out for 130 in response, with Matthew Montgomery top scoring for the visitors.
“Obviously it’s a very frustrating result again, on a pitch that was challenging to bat on at times,” James said.
“On the whole I thought we bowled pretty well but it got away from us a little bit and we maybe could have restricted them to 15 fewer.
“With the bat, we just wasn’t good enough. Credit to Cal Parkinson, he bowled beautifully and knew what he was doing on that pitch - he made it hard for us in the middle and we lost wickets in clusters which we can’t do.
“Getting off to a good start is important, then in the middle we need to find a a way to still score at seven plus runs per over without taking too much of a risk. A lot of us are probably working out what options enable us to do that best.”
Reflecting on his own performances, James was pleased, at least, with the way he was able to read the conditions and collect three wickets.
He also credited the contribution of his pathway teammate Liam Patterson-White who claimed 2-9
“There was nip with the new ball and then it started to hold a bit, and I tried to take advantage of that,” he said.
“With one short side I tried to use my variations as much as I could to make them hit to the bigger side, and that paid off which was pleasing to see. It is nice just to contribute with the ball and bowl my four overs.
“I think Liam has shown what he can do in the last couple of games, he did well with the bat against Lancs and against Leicestershire when we were rained off.
“He can bowl in the powerplay if we need him to. On this pitch he got his line perfect - he assessed what was required early then executed it very well.”
Notts face three more away games to conclude their Vitality Blast fixtures, with England’s Test Series coming to Trent Bridge.
James’ reiterated the need for Notts to support each other to get back to their best and draw learnings from this season’s T20 campaign/
“Clarkey [Joe Clarke] said in the huddle, that he and Pete back all of us to deliver what we do, and whilst results have not gone our way, it does feel like that is the case,” he said.
“We are a tight knit group and we all know we are good players - we have all seen each other perform at various times.
“We need to be aware that cricket is fickle and it will swing our way if we keep working hard - which we all are.
“The results are definitely not the product of a lack of effort or training, and we have to trust that our practice will transition to success on the pitch.”