Wagh won't look back in anger

Nottinghamshire batsman Mark Wagh admits to being despondent following his side’s failure to win any silverware this season but is sure the county can use that to their advantage next year.

Notts went into the final round of LV County Championship and NatWest Pro40 matches at Trent Bridge knowing victory would make them Division One champions.

However, defeats to Hampshire and Sussex respectively left them empty-handed and reflecting on what might have been.

Wagh is allowing himself to recover from this campaign before he begins to think about next, and prefers to see the bigger picture over a season in which he believes Notts exceeded expectations.

Director of cricket Mick Newell’s team returned to the championship’s top flight and immediately asserted themselves as title contenders.

This was in spite of playing almost the entire season without England seamers Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad, plus spells without fellow paceman Darren Pattinson, off-spinner Graeme Swann and batsman Samit Patel due to international call-ups.

Mark Wagh departs following his first-innings dismissal against Hampshire last week

Wagh told ecb.co.uk: “I don’t think I’ve spent too long yet thinking about next summer. I just need to digest this and let the mind and body, not recover, but get this one out the system and then look ahead to next summer.

“We were close this year. At the start of the summer I think we were favourites to go down from Division One and people hadn’t backed us to do particularly well.

"So the fact that we’ve got the confidence that we can compete, and that we’re one of the best teams in the country, there’s a lot to be taken from this year.”

Wagh's team came up against a resurgent Hampshire last week who had the luxury of setting their hosts a fantastic fourth-innings target, knowing Notts would have to chase it.

However, the 31-year-old acknowledges Notts should not have faced such a tall order having been 172 for three in reply to Hampshire’s 203 before capitulating to 211 all out.

To make matters worse, second-placed Durham were poised to beat Kent at Canterbury on Friday - a victory which they duly completed early on Saturday morning.

“It was pretty clear from about 4.30pm on Friday that we had messed up,” Wagh added.

“By the end of the day it was well-heralded that we were going to lose so we had a couple of days to get used to the idea.

“It was very flat. I remember coming off on the Saturday feeling utterly spent, just nothing left really. I think the other guys felt that way.

“You’ve slugged your guts out all year and ultimately just a couple of days of half-decent cricket and we’d have beaten them. Instead we came away with second place but it felt like nothing at the time.”

Durham were also Notts’ scourge in the Friends Provident Trophy - scraping home by one wicket in the quarter-final at the Riverside.

And the Outlaws endured further frustration in the Twenty20 Cup, initially failing to progress from the group stage for the first time in three years.

They then failed in their appeal to take the quarter-final place of Yorkshire who had fielded an ineligible player, Azeem Rafiq, against them.

Wagh accepts a share of the blame for these disappointments but is adamant the Pro40 anticlimax came about due to an opponent’s individual brilliance.

Wagh writhes in agony before retiring hurt on 50 with a shoulder injury in the Pro40 defeat to Durham

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Sussex were staring down both barrels when they slumped to 130 for eight in reply to Notts’ 226 for seven in the Division One title-decider.

But former Zimbabwe batsman Murray Goodwin - who won the match with a straight six from the last delivery - and Pakistan paceman Mohammad Sami shared an unbeaten partnership of 99 to steal the crown.

“The Pro40 was slightly different in a way because there’s a difference between losing it and being beaten, if you like,” added Wagh.

“I don’t think we lost that game. We were just beaten by an extraordinary innings. We were disappointed and there was a low feeling but we had admiration for the way Murray had played.

“Combined (with finishing runners-up in the championship), it leaves us feeling a bit flat and very disappointed at the end of the summer.”

Wagh’s winter plans have been disrupted by an injury to his left shoulder sustained in the Pro40 defeat to Durham in mid-August.

He appeared to be ushering Notts to victory but the searing pain forced him to retire hurt on 50 and his team-mates were then blown away.

“I’ve got to have a shoulder operation. I injured my shoulder against Durham this year in a one-day game so I’ve got an operation on Tuesday and there’s four months rehab with that. I'll see where I am at the end of that."

Wagh will have plenty of time to reflect on this season’s near misses but remains positive about Notts' prospects next year.

“We were close this year. We were very good at times but we weren’t quite good enough. I think as an individual in a team I can help do a little bit more.”