Patel: We have to start taking 20 wickets – and fast
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE may have come third in the County Championship last year, but all-rounder Samit Patel is adamant they need to find a new plan now or risk dropping into Division Two next season.
Mick Newell’s side have won just once in the four-day game this year and currently sit eighth in the table, ten points behind seventhplaced Surrey, and facing the prospect of relegation for the first time in ten seasons.
Losing Alex Hales and Jake Ball to England duty has not helped their cause, though those excuses don’t sit well with Patel, as their one-day form has been uninhibited ahead of Monday’s T20 Blast quarter-final with Essex Eagles.
But no game is more important than their next red-ball game against fellow relegation candidates Hampshire – with Patel insisting his side must find a way of taking 20 wickets in a match and fast.
“It has been a difficult season,” said Patel. “As a squad we have been under-par. We have not played as well as we would have liked in the four-day format.
“We have not been able to take 20 wickets. Runs have not been an issue, it is just our bowling has not got us over the line.
“We still have a good enough squad to compete with the top boys, we just have not played consistent cricket.
“We brought in Imran Tahir and that has not worked. We have to find a way to get 20 wickets.
“The Hampshire game is a sixpointer in football terms, we have to win it. We need to get a gap between ourselves and them and then start reeling in Surrey.
“There are five games left and we need to win three of those five. We have some tough games but we can’t think about that.We have to be positive.”
A late run of strong form could push Patel back into the minds of the England selectors, who are expected to take at least two spinners on their tours to Bangladesh and India this winter.
The 31-year-old has impressed in the sub-continent before and still holds hope of an England career, having made sporadic appearances in all forms of the game since his 50-over debut against Scotland in 2008.
He has taken 19 wickets this season at an average of 32 but, with Tahir solid if not spectacular and late summer pitches more receptive to spin, Patel has a big stage on which to prove his form.
“England is on my mind and I would be lying if I said it wasn’t,” he said. “Hopefully the work I did in the winter last year will help, and my experience of India is pretty big.
“I have been there a few times with England and I know what to expect, so hopefully my knowledge of those conditions will count in my favour.
“I need to push hard in the last two months to make sure I’m there, and hopefully that coincides with Notts doing better.
“I am in a very good place so I need to push on and I am sure it will land for me.”
Patel, who made his Nottinghamshire debut in 2002 and has won two County Championship titles, has been granted a benefit year by the club – though insists his glory days at Trent Bridge are not done yet.
“I am thankful to Notts for giving it to me. I am looking forward to it, and I hope it doesn’t get in the way too much,” he added.
“I have been through it all in the last ten years and I have a lot more to win.”