Nottinghamshire can use T20 Blast momentum in County Championship survival bid, says Peter Moores

Notts Outlaws put aside their indifferent form in the Specsavers County Championship to reach their third Finals Day in four years after defeating Middlesex on Thursday evening

Peter Moores is hoping that his side can use qualification for the forthcoming Vitality Blast Finals Day as a springboard for their final three red-ball matches of the season.

Notts Outlaws put aside their indifferent form in the Specsavers County Championship to reach their third Finals Day in four years after defeating Middlesex on Thursday evening.

The Outlaws have given themselves a chance to end the season with a shot at winning some silverware but, as Moores explained, perhaps they can also keep their survival hopes alive with victory in this week’s home match against Kent at Trent Bridge.

Moores’ side go into the contest marooned at the foot of the Division One table and still without a Championship win this year. Realistically they will need to win at least two – possibly all three – of their remaining games to have any chance of avoiding relegation.

“I’m hoping that the momentum that we get from reaching Finals Day will be something that we can take into the championship game on Tuesday,” said the head coach.

“It’s a big game but, honestly, I don’t really want us to be going into the game thinking that we’ve got to win it to stay in the hunt. We’ve just got to start playing better cricket in that format of the game.

“We haven’t played well enough, we know that. It’s up to each person to try and bring their best game and play good cricket and then the result will look after itself.”

There has been a huge turn-over of playing personnel at Trent Bridge in recent times and the re-building process has played a part in the county’s poor Championship campaign, according to Moores.

“We know we’ve had a lot of change,” he said. “Anybody that looks at our red-ball team now and looks at what it has been over the last two or three years will see there has been so much change.

“We have lost something like 13 or 14 players in 18 months, so that takes its toll. We’ve been competitive in the white-ball formats but not anywhere near as competitive as we want to be in red-ball.

“The key is that we adjust and we work towards where we want to get to and if we do that then we’ll see the emergence of players and we’ll see other players start to find their feet in the first division, hopefully in the next three games and where that takes us to - between now and the end of the season - will look after itself.

“We have to be tight as a team, enjoy the fact we’ve got a fantastic cricketer in Ravi Ashwin, who’s come to give us some support and each person has to be prepared to take responsibility on the day.”

Kent, who are sixth in the table, are still mathematically within reach of Notts. They had the better of the meeting at Tunbridge Wells, when the two sides met in June.

On the final day they dismissed their visitors for just 120, leaving Moores to reflect: “We’ve had some tough days this season but that was a really tough day.”

Notts will welcome Ashwin back into their fold, after the Indian Test spinner has been away on international duty in the Caribbean.

His presence is likely to be key if the gap is going to be closed on Kent and Warwickshire – who will visit Trent Bridge next week.

Courtesy of the ECB Reporters Network.