In-form opener Ben Slater is expecting Nottinghamshire to be sternly tested by Somerset this week, but is backing his table-topping teammates to continue their strong run.

“We couldn’t force a result last week [against Yorkshire at Trent Bridge], but we’ll go down there full of confidence, we’re still top of the table,” declared Slater.

“Obviously, we know they’re a good side; their last few games have shown that, and we’re expecting the pitch will be a result wicket, so it will be tough.

“But, when we go down there, we know it’s always tough playing them, and we’ll definitely have the confidence that we can get a good result.”

Slater is included in a 14-strong squad to make the journey to the West Country, as Brett Hutton returns to replace Dillon Pennington.

Pennington is not included as he begins a two-match suspension following a disciplinary hearing after the Yorkshire fixture.

“We’ve got a good group of lads and we all get on really well,” continued Slater. “We’ve had Kyle [Verreynne], Mo [Abbas], and Ishan Kishan come in as overseas players too, who have all fitted in really well.

“Ishan is a great character and he showed what he can do last week. They all add to what we’ve already got.”

Slater has been one of the standout players with the bat in that group, hitting 711 runs at 50.78, and posting six successive half-centuries, in Notts’ strong Championship campaign thus far.

“I don’t think it’s down to anything in particular,” he explains. “I just feel like I’ve been playing well all year.

“I’m at a stage now where I know my game well, so I’m just trying to approach every game in the same way, and I’ve been on a good run.

“It was disappointing not to get to three figures last week, but it’s always nice to score a few runs, and hopefully I can continue putting the lads in a good position at the top of the order.”

Slater has certainly fulfilled his ongoing wish of putting the Green and Golds on a strong footing thus far, and so too has his opening partner and skipper, Haseeb Hameed.

Hameed, in his second season as captain, has shone with 824 runs at 74.90, and while batting with each other as an opening partnership, the duo have totalled 839 runs across eight games.

“I’m enjoying opening the batting with him,” said Slater. “I think our games complement each other well.

“Obviously, you have the right-left-hand combination, but I think in others regard that our styles go together very well.

“Ever since we started opening the batting together, over the last however-many years, I think we’ve always done well together.”

While evidently very much a team-first player, Slater has also had some notable individual milestones to celebrate in this campaign too.

During the most recent game against Yorkshire, scores of 96 and 74 not out took the 33-year-old past 9,000 career First-Class runs, as well as 7,000 all-format runs for Notts.

“In the game, I actually didn’t have a clue - until I was walking off at tea, and it was announced over the tannoy!” laughed Slater. “Obviously, though, it’s nice to see that I’ve got that number.

“I think if you’d have told me aged 15 that I’d get to a thousand First-Class runs - never mind 9,000! - I’d never have believed you, so it’s really nice to see that the hard work has paid off.”

Hard work is a recurring theme on Slater’s mind, and it is a quality he knows will be required in spades in Taunton, as the squad prepare once more for potentially less-familiar conditions.

In particular, Slater is confidently backing Notts’ twin twirlers, Liam Patterson-White and Farhan Ahmed, to get the job done if the Taunton pitch does turn out to be conducive to spin.

“With it being a Kookaburra ball, they might potentially produce a wicket that will spin,” surmised Slater, “but we know that we have two quality spinners in Liam and Farhan.

“If we get down there and it does look like it might spin, then we’ll back those two to get us some wickets.

“Freddie [McCann] has shown that he’s more than capable of backing them up when required too.

“But we’ve also seen earlier this year that they’ve played on quite green wickets too. I think we’ll be prepared for either or, so we’ll just see what we get when we arrive down there!”

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