Wood backs Moores to revive relegated Nottinghamshire

Young all-rounder Luke Wood has backed new head coach Peter Moores to resurrect Nottinghamshire after they plunged to relegation from the top flight of the Specsasvers County Championship last summer.
All-rounder Luke Wood, who is looking forward to a successful season with Nottinghamshire. (PHOTO BY: Mark Fear)All-rounder Luke Wood, who is looking forward to a successful season with Nottinghamshire. (PHOTO BY: Mark Fear)
All-rounder Luke Wood, who is looking forward to a successful season with Nottinghamshire. (PHOTO BY: Mark Fear)

Speaking to the club’s website, Wood said: “I can’t say anything bad about Mooresy. He has been absolutely brilliant.

“Hopefully, we can get straight back into Division One of the County Championship this year. That’s everyone’s main aim. We would also like to get a bit further in the white-ball, one-day competitions and maybe even win the NatWest Twenty20 Blast.”

The 21-year-old Wood was giving his thoughts as Notts’s pre-season preparatsions for the new season stepped up a gear in the indoor nets.

As well as former England head coach Moores, who has taken charge of the Trent Bridge reins from Mick Newell, the England U19s’ player was full of praise for the new assistant coach, Paul Franks.

“I have known Fransky for a while and he has also been brilliant,” he said. “He has great enthusiasm and works well alongside Mooresy. In fact, the coaching group as a whole work brilliantly well together. They feed off each other, and it’s great to learn from them.”

The Sheffield-born Wood, who went to school in Worksop, burst on to the scene in 2015 when his fine performances included a remarkable 105-ball century at Trent Bridge against Sussex. Injury clouded his efforts in 2016, but Notts still harbour high hopes that he can develop into a key all-rounder in all formats of the game.

“My main aspiration for 2017 is to stay fit for the whole year,” he said. “I want to get back into the first-team and, hopefully, play a bit of white-ball cricket.”

He revealed that he has been working hard through the winter, both on his bowling and batting skills in the nets, and also on his physical fitness in the gym.

“With my bowling, I’m not close to full pace yet but, hopefully, in a couple of weeks, I’ll be charging in. I have been concentrating on swinging the ball, which is my main asset, but also on the one that goes away, and my length.

“The winter has been massive for my batting, which I have worked hard on. I am happy with the progress I am making, and I hope it will show this coming season. My batting is a lot better than it was when I made that century. I am in the groove and feeling pretty good.”