(Photo: Getty Images)
By Matt Wright
England have yet to see the best of Jake Ball, according to the Nottinghamshire seamer as he targets a big season at Trent Bridge and a recall to the national side.
Ball’s hopes of starring during the Ashes suffered a big blow just two weeks before the First Test of what turned out to be an ill-fated series when he sprained an ankle during a warm-up match against a Cricket Australia XI.
He was, in the end, selected to face Australia at the Gabba, but the injury clearly hampered Ball, as he took one wicket in the match, at the cost of 115 runs, going at more than four an over in both innings.
The 27-year-old played no further part in the series and the only other time he took to the field for England during the winter was the final ODI against the Aussies in January.
Ball accepts that he has something of a point to prove this campaign for Notts, as he looks to get back into the reckoning of the England selection panel.
To date, he has taken just three wickets in the four Tests he has played, while his ODI record is slightly better, with 21 dismissals in 17 games.
Ball said: “I’d say that England definitely haven’t seen the best of me. Going into that Ashes Test, I had a fairly serious ankle injury and I was probably a bit undercooked there.
“Hopefully I’m going to prove that this year and I’m looking to get back in the fold for the Sri Lanka series (in October).
“I’ve got a lot to prove and I know that I’ve got the ability to go out there and take a lot of wickets early in the season and hopefully that will push me back into an England place.”
Ball has backed England to recover from a troubled winter that saw them fail to win a single Test, with their 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Australia being followed by more disappointment in New Zealand.
With hindsight, the series against the Black Caps was effectively lost in the first session at Auckland, when England were pathetically bowled out for just 58 before lunch on day one.
An improved display at Christchurch wasn’t quite enough to salvage a 1-1 series draw, but Ball believes England can put their problems behind them in this summer’s home series against Pakistan and India.
He said: “I think every series you go into is massive and we’re going into this summer off the back of a couple of tough tours, starting with the one against India last year and Australia this year.
“They’re tough series to go away and win, but I think we’ve proved that we’re a very strong side at home, so in that case I don’t think we’ve got much to prove.
“But I think it’s important that we have a good summer to set us up for the winter tours.”
Of more pressing concern for Ball right now is helping Nottinghamshire establish themselves in Division One following a successful 2017 at Trent Bridge.
He played his part in their promotion last year, with his 27 wickets from seven matches, at an average of 25, a big reason for his call-up to England’s Ashes squad in the first place.
The wet weather has limited Notts’ outdoor training sessions since their return from a pre-season tour of South Africa, with Ball having to practise his run-ups on what he described as ‘sludge and sawdust’.
“We said last year that we’re not a Division Two county – we’ve got a Test ground and it deserves Division One cricket,” Ball said.
“We’re looking to prove that this year and we’ve added to the squad.
“We’ve got Chris Nash now and we’ve got Ross Taylor coming in, so some exceptionally strong players and experienced batsmen to come in that have scored runs in Division One already.
“I think it’s going to be an interesting year for us.”
Ball feels last year’s campaign in Division Two helped Notts’ bowlers and batsmen to get their confidence back in first-class cricket, after the surprise of being relegated in 2016.
They certainly won’t be lacking for self-belief in the white-ball competitions after they lifted both the One-Day Cup and t20 Blast trophy in addition to winning promotion last season.
When asked how the county will be looking to follow 2017’s double success, Ball said: “The players that we’ve added are only going to strengthen our squad from last year.
“Having had such a good year last year, I think it would be quite easy for us to rest on that and not try and push on, but we’ve identified that there are areas where we can still improve and we’re looking to do that. We’ve done quite a bit of white-ball practice already while we were away on our pre-season tour and we identified the areas we wanted to improve on. I think if we do that we’ll be quite hard to stop.”
Ball’s involvement with England in last year’s ICC Champions Trophy prevented him from playing in the One-Day Cup final against Surrey at Lord’s.
However, he was available to take 2-25 as the Outlaws claimed the t20 Blast title for the first time by defeating Birmingham Bears.
“Even now, when you look back they were amazing days for the club and amazing days for the coaching staff and for the families who came down and were a part of it all and the whole celebration after,” he added.
“It’s something that you just want more and more of because those are the days you look back fondly on at the end of your career and have the memories of.
“We’re hungry for a lot more and, hopefully, we can win both trophies again this year.”
