Moores enjoys moment after Notts' march to success

Fergus O'Neill took 21 wickets in the first four matches of the 2025 summer. But arguably the Victorian quick's most enduring contribution to Nottinghamshire's first County Championship title in 15 years was a tan corduroy blazer he picked up in a charity shop.

After dry cleaning it, the garment was sent off to get embroidered with the club crest and "MOM" on the breasts. It has subsequently been presented to either the "man" or person responsible for the "moment" of the match.

The honour of handing it over is given to the previous round's "MOM". Having donned it for his three-wicket blitz to seal a thriller at the Kia Oval, which meant Nottinghamshire led the four-peat seeking Surrey into this final round, it was Josh Tongue's duty on Friday afternoon. And so, for the last corduroy presentation of the season, Tongue handed it over to Peter Moores.

"Oh, it was lovely," said Moores, green Nottinghamshire hood over the off-mustard lapels, nailing the yuppie-chic, winners' medal around his neck adding an extra flash of bling. "I'm not one for big emotions in the dressing room, but I was properly made up with it."

Let he who has watered, be watered. If there is one overriding emotion from this season, it is that a group of players have bound together and fought for a head coach who has done the same for them. Players that, to a man, had never previously tasted Championship success but, under his care, have grown as cricketers and developed the kind of resolve you only realise you have once you've won it.

You could apply that to Moores, too. None of this has been plain sailing. After being chewed up and spat out twice by England (2007-2009 and 2014-2015) he admits to a bitterness that just wasn't him. It was while stewing after that second stint, halfway through a bottle of Rioja, that he realised the game does not owe him anything.

Since starting out in professional cricket at the age of 18, at no point had he really felt short-changed. In fact, he surmised, each year offered fulfilment and, occasionally, reward. Now, at 62, he is the first coach to win the Championship with three different teams (Sussex in 2003 and 2006, Lancashire in 2011).

That the requisite title-sealing points were secured on Thursday, when Kyle Verreynne's six over midwicket took Nottinghamshire to 300 in their first innings against Warwickshire, allowed Moores a first, tension-free drive into Trent Bridge since coming on full-time in 2017. Naturally, he found it "weird". But as his players lined up for their medals, he watched on with pride, even indulging his paternal instincts vt getting out his phone to capture a few special moments in front of a Hound Stand teeming with home fans doing exactly the same.

The final throes of the match were, well, perfect. Friday was always going to be a day of celebration given the mountain Warwickshire had to climb to give Nottinghamshire a meaningful target. Spectators were walking in as early as 9am and out to the bars as early as 5pm.

You do not often get perfect days in this game, even over a long, 14-game season, when luck - whether the elements or injuries - can decide your destiny. Nottinghamshire have certainly had the weather on their side. Of their six draws, four were in the Kookaburra rounds. And availability of key resources can be pinned squarely on Tongue, who was a huge boost even for only six matches. His 31 wickets have come at 22.03, of which 15 were picked up in his first three appearances of the season.

It was his final match of that initial chunk - a home victory over Sussex, which was also O'Neil's last appearance - that gave Nottinghamshire some daylight to work with at the top of Division One. In the dressing room afterwards, when the players saw the table, they figured they might be onto something.

Winning the whole thing was not quite on the agenda up until then. Having just about survived relegation in 2024, there were many Nottinghamshire fans calling for change, not unreasonably. Even as recently as the Metro Bank One-Day Cup, a fan was spotted wearing a "MOORES OUT" Outlaws jersey.

Moores almost was, before signing a new three-year deal in August to ward off reported overtures from Hampshire and Lancashire. By then the squad was in an entirely different space, owning a lofty Division One position that they had spoken about previously without ever truly believing would be theirs.

It was on a pre-season trip to Abu Dhabi that Moores told his group that, despite their previous struggles, they were no longer in transition. "I thought we were ready to play." Sights were set on becoming a top-four team. From there, who knows. Anything can happen.

And it did - because they played. All of them.

After a first taste of full-time captaincy last season, Haseeb Hameed has emerged an incredibly wily captain, having developed an extra personal touch to his own ruthlessness with the bat, finishing with career-best 1258-run first-class summer, equalling his previous hauls of four centuries in 2016 and 2022.

Hameed was one of eight century-makers - one short of the nine Nottinghamshire relied upon for their 2010 success. It was not only idyllic for him to strike the winning boundary elegantly through cover, but also that he did so after being given the strike by Ben Slater. The left-hander's single saw him join Hameed as the only other Notts batter to reach four-figures. That Jack Haynes didn't reach that milestone despite matching his skipper's hundred count merely speaks to the fact that when runs were needed, someone stood up.

Brett Hutton, as ever, led the attack with 38 dismissals. Remarkably, he was one of seven with 20 or more. Dillon Pennington offered real value with 28 from his eight games, while two home-reared allrounders in left-arm spinner Liam Patterson-White (averaging 33.75 with the bat, 36.07 with ball) and seamer Lyndon James (46.41 and 35.61) were almost luxuries given how well they performed in their 11 and 13 appearances, respectively.

It will be harder to keep this group together next year. Tongue, for instance, will continue to get the cotton-wool treatment from the ECB, who are paying his wages for the foreseeable future. The club will also have to stump up the cash for Mohammad Abbas, who is subject to a lucrative offer from Derbyshire. They hope to be able to welcome back Verreynne and O'Neil pending international commitments.

None of that is for now, of course, even if it was about this time last year that Moores began plotting for how this one could go. His mantra has always been twofold: that winning is a byproduct of getting your players to believe in what they're doing, and that you creep to excellence rather than sprint to it.

That, however, is not quite how 2025 has panned out. Nottinghamshire grew to believe and did not creep. They have marched, proudly, to a seventh County Championship title, a third for Moores, and first for each other, in style.