Another Nottinghamshire loss opens door a little wider

An uninspiring Nottinghamshire side was roundly thrashed by Worcestershire last night, never in the match as they were outbatted and outbowled.

Had we beaten them last week their fans would have been even more critical than they were on Twitter. 'Sack Moores' was a common comment and while their fickle support made me smile, because they win their fair share of matches, it shows how open and how tough this northern group really is.

We now lie fifth, and as I wrote the other day need to focus on winning and letting the others knock themselves out of the equation. If we keep doing so, we only need one from Durham, Yorkshire and Lancashire to fail and we are in the knockouts. Worcestershire are the best team in the group, though Surrey and Somerset in the southern group are the two sides that have most impressed me.

Their remaining fixtures:

Durham - Lancs (A) Leics (H) Northants (A) Lancs (H) Derbys (H)

Yorkshire - Lancs (H) Notts (A) Northants (A) Notts (H)

Lancashire  - Durham (H) Yorks (A) Durham (A) Birmingham (A)

And let's not forget Nottinghamshire, who have Birmingham (A) Yorkshire (H ) Worcs (A) Yorks (A)

Something has to give in those results and if we win ours, or even three out of four, qualification is still on. I'm even planning a trip down to Durham for that final game, just in case and their attack is now shorn of Imran Tahir who has been a major influence for them this year alongside the excellent Tom Latham.

We will have the services of the equally influential Wahab Riaz for the games against Northamptonshire at home and Worcestershire away, but would then be without him for the home game against Leicestershire and the final trip to Durham.

I take on board the comments from a couple of people about not replacing Riaz. I would agree but if - and only if - avenues have been explored to replace him. The market is restricted, as I have written before, but there are plenty of players in pre-season who would likely do a good job, especially in New Zealand, whose players usually give excellent service on the county scene.

As I replied to notoveryet yesterday, I understand that Jimmy Neesham isn't currently fit to bowl so wouldn't take him on as a batsman, but someone like Henry Nicholls, an excellent forcing batsman,  would be an asset.

It is unlikely we will find a bowler of such parsimony and talent as Riaz, so we would need to  make up the extra cost  with the bat. I am not totally convinced we have that in our batting line up as it stands, so bringing in someone to address the balance is worthwhile for me.

After all, we have brought in John Wright and Dominic Cork to show us how to play T20 and over two summers few would argue against their doing that. Equally, with a new Head of Cricket coming in few would expect their return next year.

With a quarter-final berth in sight, they should have the resources to make it happen.