Ben Slater: Loan move to Leicestershire "the best thing that happened to me"

The 29-year old was treading water at Trent Bridge heading into the 2020 season before a last minute loan deal saved his season and revitalised his career

When Ben Slater last spoke to The Cricketer in August 2020, his future was uncertain.

Off the back of a successful loan spell in 2018, he’d left Derbyshire for Nottinghamshire, trading home comforts for being a small fish in a big pond.

Unfortunately, as he admits himself, his first full season at Trent Bridge didn’t go to plan. He scored just 471 runs in 13 County Championship matches, passing 50 just once, and his first-class average dipped to 20.47 – his lowest since his debut season in 2013.

Heading into the 2020 campaign, his poor form showed no sign of abating and after posting three single-figure knocks in Nottinghamshire’s pre-season fixtures, he was replaced by new signing Haseeb Hameed in the starting XI and left out of the squad for their Bob Willis Trophy opener against Derbyshire.

Taking the decision to go out in search of first-team opportunities, Slater found himself on loan for the second time in his career – not as an exciting talent with nothing to lose, but as an out of form player with a point to prove. And he believes taking the plunge and moving to Leicestershire days before the start of the season was the best decision he’s ever made.

^{Ben Slater playing for Nottinghamshire in the County Championship (L) and One-Day Cup (R) in 2019}

"2019 didn’t really go to plan in the red-ball stuff after how I started when I came on loan the year before from Derbyshire," he admits, honestly. "I did well in the white-ball 50-over competition in 2019 but you want to do well in the first-class game, and it didn’t go to plan.

"I was disappointed I wasn’t in that first squad. I thought I’d been playing well in pre-season, I didn’t score many but how I’d been netting and how I’d been in the middle practicing, I thought I’d been playing well enough to warrant a place in the side. That’s professional sport, you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth.

"I was lucky to have the opportunity to go out on loan, I knew a couple of the lads [at Leicestershire] from my time at Derbyshire – Tommy Taylor, Will Davis, and Cal Parkinson – and as soon as it was confirmed from both ends, I snatched their hand of really. It’s better to play first-class cricket than just training and playing for my club side at weekends.

"And, looking back, it’s probably the best thing that happened to me, going to Leicestershire and scoring the runs I did in the first couple of games I was there and forcing my way back in at Nottinghamshire."

County Championship 2021 team guide: Nottinghamshire

Slater made an immediate impact at Leicestershire, scoring a daddy hundred in the first innings of his debut – a career high score of 172 -  and chipping in with 25 off 23 deliveries in the second as his new side chased down 150 inside 16 overs to win the match.

"To score a hundred in that first game, it was special," he recalls. "It was almost just to say, this is what I can do, and the victory that followed in that game, beating Lancashire the way we did, was probably one of the best wins of my career so it was a special week."

His next appearance didn’t quite go to plan – two ducks against Derbyshire – but Nottinghamshire liked what they’d seen from their opener. He was recalled to his parent county for their clash against Lancashire and pushed straight into the starting XI where, much to the horror of Lancashire’s bowlers, he scored another century.

He followed it up with a gritty 86 against Leicestershire before ending 2020 with a six-ball duck at Durham. But it didn’t matter. With one half-century, two centuries, and 425 red-ball runs – the fourth-most in the competition – to his name, he collected Nottinghamshire’s red-ball player of the season award and became possibly the first player this millennium to hit a first-class century for two different counties against the same opponent in one season – a niche stat, but one he’ll take.  

"It’s a bit ridiculous really," he laughs. "How many people would play for two sides in the space of two weeks against the same team and score two hundreds? It’s a bit mad isn’t it?

"I think it was two hundreds, one fifty, three ducks and a twenty-something, which showed that when I get myself in, I go big. Two hundreds, a fifty and three ducks in seven innings is about as ridiculous as the year was really!"

"But I was over the moon to score the runs I did after being left out in the first game and to win red-ball player of the year was an honour. I’m happy with how everything went. If you’d told me that when I was in lockdown in March and April, playing Football Manager, I’d have snatched your hands off."

And, despite his struggles over the past two years, he has no regrets about his decision to move to Trent Bridge: "I don’t regret it. There’s an aspect of my game which has improved and probably as a person too - if I’d not taken that step and gone through that experience.

The Cricketer's County Preview Podcasts: Nottinghamshire

"Obviously there was a time when I was left out that you think, if I was there, I’d be playing but I don’t think I would ever have regretted it. I think the biggest regret at the end of my career would have been if I’d not taken this step and tried to push myself at a club like Nottinghamshire."

Heading into the new season, Slater’s spirits are high – he’s signed a new contract, securing his future at Nottinghamshire until the end of 2023, recovered from having minor wrist surgery in the autumn, and scored a pre-season century against Oxford UCCE.

"I feel good, I feel in a good place," he says. "I got a hundred [in pre-season] and to start the season off with a hundred only puts you in good stead. I spent time in the middle - for that hundred I faced about 140 balls which probably equates to about a week in the net! The time spent against opposition, the confidence you gain from that – it’s good to take into the season.

"My game feels in a good place after having a winter of hard work and I’m just ready to go."

Nottinghamshire start their season at home to Durham on Thursday and while Slater is keen to cement his position in the red-ball side, he’s also looking to develop into a three-format player and break into the T20 side – no easy task given Notts Outlaws have won two T20 Blast titles since 2017.

"[I want] to start the season as well as I can, establish myself at the top of the order in the four-day competition and score some runs," he says. "Obviously, you want to start well, pick up some wins at the start of the season and that will hopefully snowball.

"Personally, in the 50-over competition I want to carry on how I’ve done in that during my career and break into the T20 squad if I can. Their record of getting to Finals Day is probably one of the best out of all 18 counties so it will be tough, but it’s an ambition of mine and I’ll be working hard to try and get there.

"They’re the goals I’ve set myself. I want to score as many runs as I can. If you offered me a hundred every innings, I’d take it. You’re striving for perfection and you don’t go out there and try and settle for anything less than 100. That’s the mindset I’m taking into every game."

He has confidence in his side’s red-ball ambitions too. In recent years, their white-ball dominance hasn’t translated into the County Championship – Nottinghamshire failed to win a match in the Bob Willis Trophy – but, after a promising winter, Slater believes their fellow Group One sides should write them off at their peril.

🤤 Is anybody over @BennySlats' debut innings for the Running Foxes yet? Because we aren't!

Here's 🔟 of the best from his new career-best. Enjoy 👍

🦊 #runningfoxes pic.twitter.com/zRaCNZZfHT

— Leicestershire County Cricket Club 🏏 (@leicsccc) August 6, 2020

"If you look at how we did in 2020, we can take positives from what we did," he says. "I think we scored the most batting bonus points in the whole country and previously, we’d had a lot of criticism for our red-ball batting, so we can take positives from that.

"We’re a pretty new side and with all the new players we’ve brought in it takes time for us all to gel and get to know each other’s games. With white-ball cricket you can put a side together and it’s easy to go out there and perform at a high level but with red-ball cricket, it’s a tough game to get right and it takes time to gel and start winning on a regular basis. Look at Somerset and Essex, they have a team, they know how they play and that’s why they’ve been at the top for the last couple of years.

"I think we’re in the position now where we’ll get back to winning ways in that format. I think we’re all understanding each other a lot better, and I think we might surprise a few [teams] this year."

And speaking of surprises, after leading them to the Championship in the first lockdown, Slater achieved promotion to the Premier League with Chesterfield on Football Manager over the Christmas period: "My greatest sporting achievement" – so far.

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