Squad named for Trent Bridge trip

A 13 man squad has been named for the trip to Trent Bridge to play Nottinghamshire in the County Championship starting tomorrow.

One change from the part that was named for the defeat to Durham is the inclusion of Jon Lewis in place of Gary Keedy.

Here is the squad in full:

Gareth Batty (C)

Rory Burns

Arun Harinath

Vikram Solanki

Zander de Bruyn

Gary Wilson

Steve Davies

Jason Roy

Jon Lewis

Stuart Meaker

Tim Linley

Chris Tremlett

Jade Dernbach

I'm not sure if Lewis will be given his first game of the season, but it is the right decision to leave Keedy out. Dernbach will surely come back in in place of the former Lancashire spinner, but there are then question marks over the makeup of the rest of the bowlers.  

There are 6 seamers in the squad, one of them being de Bruyn who has bowled well this season so far. It depends on the state of the pitch on whether we play 4 or 5 seamers. Batty didn't play at Trent Bridge last year and Zander was captain. However, Kartik did play, so I would expect Batty to play.  In the 4 games so far, we are yet to play Tremlett, Dernbach and Meaker together, so that is an option. Linley hasn't bowled badly so far, but hasn't really torn up trees, so possibly playing that trio is worth a try, with them arguably being our best 3 bowlers on their day.

However, when he has played, Tremlett hasn't been too effective, and is clearly not at his best, and at this time, victories are needed. Therefore, I would play Lewis alongside Meaker and Dernbach, but I would have thought that Andy Flower would have something to say about that. 

With regards to the batting, there aren't really any other options than those selected, so there is less to talk about there. The one sticking point is that of who opens the batting. Roy is not a 4 day opener, and should instead be coming in down at 7. That would then push Harinath up to open, which was his position when he first came into the side, and Wilson at 5 where his form can be exploited better. 

Notts haven't had a good start to the season, winning one but losing two of their three games, but still sit two places above us. They will be without England bound Swann and Broad who they have had for a couple of games, but James Taylor will return after Lions duty. 

So, in the middle of May, it is already as massive game in our season. A win is desperately needed to boost confidence in the squad, and install a belief that we can stay in this division.