Nottinghamshire: Johnson equipped for art of the possible (31 Mar 1998)

31 March 1998

Nottinghamshire: Johnson equipped for art of the possible

By Neil Hallam

SINCE Paul Johnson became captain of Nottinghamshire in 1996, the impression has been that each new season has found him pugnaciously braced for adversity and guarded in his predictions rather than brimming with high expectation.

No so this time. Johnson is too practical and experienced a campaigner to indulge in extravagant sabre-rattling, but his mood as Nottinhamshire set off for a pre-season trip to South Africa at the weekend was markedly upbeat and challenging.

"For the first time since I took the job," he explained, "I genuinely feel we've got what it takes to re-emerge as a force. There's a real buzz about the place as a result of the improvements we've made to the playing staff. It's great for me to look at the squad and see so many options."

The disappointment of failing to entice Shane Warne to Trent Bridge has been soothed by the signing of another leg-spinner, the Zimbabwean Paul Strang who impressed with 61 championship wickets and 588 runs for Kent last summer. He replaces the New Zealand all-rounder Nathan Astle.

Brittle batting should be stiffened by the arrival of another Test player, Jason Gallian from Lancashire, and in Chris Read, the England A tourist recruited from Gloucestershire, Nottinghamshire feel they have the best young wicketkeeper in the country to challenge the experienced Wayne Noon.

Alex Wharf, released by Yorkshire last summer, will compete for opportunities in the seam department and Johnson is adamant that Nottinghamshire's opponents will also confront a "new captain" this season.

"Limited resources, and especially flimsy batting, has meant that I've often had to lead the side in a way which is contrary to my nature during the last two seasons," Johnson confesses.

"Captaincy is the art of the possible and more often than not I've had to be defensive in situations where I would have loved to be positive and attack. This time, with a top-class spinner to call on and much more competition for places, it should be a lot different and I'm looking forward to the chance to be more aggressive and adventurous in my tactics and decision-making.

"I haven't felt under pressure in the last two years because people have recognised that you can only do so much with limited resources. But there can be no excuse for under-achievement now."

Only Durham claimed fewer batting points than Nottinghamshire's meagre haul of 26 last season and Johnson admits: "I lost count of the times we had to rely on the lower order batsman like Wayne Noon, Chris Tolley and Paul Franks to bale us out.

"Bringing in a solid, big-innings player like Jason Gallian should go a long way to change that situation. For some of the batters, Paul Pollard and Graeme Archer for instance, this is a critical season.

"With the extra depth and quality we've got, the time is right for us to make our presence felt again by finishing at least in the top eight in the championship and having a really good tilt at winning one of the limited-overs competitions."

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)