Nottinghamshire’s Second Eleven continue their busy early season with a three-day Championship match against the MCC Young Cricketers.

After their previous fixture against Yorkshire ended a draw, captain Paul Franks drew on the many positives as reasons to be optimistic going into this week’s fixture.

“I feel we had the lion’s share of the three-day game, to bowl them out on the first day after losing the toss was excellent,” said Franks.

“They bowled very well in response, but Adam Tillcock and Brett Hutton were outstanding.

“There is an established level of quality here which means that any number of our players can go out and really put in a good performance. 

“The real challenge will be for them to go out and perform like that consistently, and really impress. 

Everyone is sensitive to small inconsistencies coming from younger players, but we want to be in the position where if they get the opportunity to perform, they can go out there and do it confidently. 

The side will benefit from added experience with the inclusion of a number of the County’s senior professionals into the squad. Nottinghamshire’s Director of Cricket Mick Newell was keen to have players spending as much time as possible in the middle, in order to retain their sharpness ahead of Nottinghamshire’s clash against Warwickshire this weekend.

“We’ll have Andre Adams, Jake Ball and Ajmal Shahzad available to play in the three day match,” said Franks

"We’ll see a couple of the younger pros make way, but this is a busy time of the year. 

"A couple of younger lads will have to make way, and it’ll be important to get these players involved as much as possible early in the season and get them playing as much cricket as they can. 

“It’ll also be a huge benefit to them having some more experienced professionals around the squad, it’s an excellent opportunity to learn.”

Second Eleven Championship squad to face MCC Young Cricketers (from): Hassan Azad, Sam Kelsall, Sam Wood, Billy Root, Adam Tillcock, Matt Cross, Ajmal Shahzad, Brett Hutton, Andre Adams, Jake Ball, Luke Wood, Paul Franks.