![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775136767_somerset-a-squad-.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\nJoe Clarke is ready for his winter\u2019s work to take centre stage when Nottinghamshire\u2019s 2026 Rothesay County Championship campaign gets underway at Taunton (3-6 April, 11am starts).<\/p>\n
Clarke is one of 14 named by Head Coach Peter Moores in the Green and Golds\u2019 first squad of the new season, and he can\u2019t wait for proceedings to begin in earnest.<\/p>\n
Fergus O’Neill will land in the UK in the coming days following his participation in the Sheffield Shield final, while Ben Duckett and Josh Tongue miss the trip to Taunton as their workload is managed in line with other centrally-contracted players ahead of the Test summer.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the moment that all the work over the winter, all the training, every wicket that we\u2019ve played on, every net that we\u2019ve had, has all been leading up to,\u201d said Clarke.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a good few months getting myself ready for the season, it’s been good to play through the winter, and then we had South Africa as a group.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was good to get all the boys together, but it was also competitive and we were able to enjoy a lot of time in the middle, and specifically a lot of time against the red ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very productive, and it really underlined how competitive and ready for the season everyone is looking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clarke is firm in his belief that Notts\u2019 ability to operate as a team was a deciding factor in last summer\u2019s success, and he wants to see more from every member of the squad this time around.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the biggest things last year was everyone contributing, and that will be something that we\u2019re looking to do again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPersonally, I still felt I contributed at times when we really needed it, but hopefully that will be something that I can do more consistently this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, I want to make sure I\u2019m putting us all in a strong position so we can win games for this club; that\u2019s always the main focus.\u201d<\/p>\n
The discussion of contributing when required could hardly be more apt for Clarke given the venue of the opening clash.<\/p>\n
In 2024, Clarke produced a match-defining second-innings 213* over a total of almost seven hours at the crease to guide Notts to a draw in Taunton.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt helps, but that is a couple of years ago now, and we all know that this game changes very quickly,\u201d he says magnanimously, when asked about the mental impact of past successes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, it might be similar bowlers, but the fact that was a couple of years ago means they\u2019ll have some new stuff to throw at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially with it being the first game of a new season, and they\u2019ll be pumped up for it just like we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
One area where Clarke is not shy about drawing confidence, however, is his overall performances with the bat in April of years gone by.<\/p>\n
Describing the first month of the season as \u201cnotoriously difficult\u201d for batters, he nevertheless says he is \u201cfeeling good about it, given I feel I\u2019ve had a strong April over the last few years.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, though, it\u2019s like any game, where I\u2019ll be trying to be proactive, solid in defence, leave well, and look to score if there\u2019s a bad ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the same sort of process that has kept me in good stead over the years, so I\u2019m really looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Enjoyment will be key, for Clarke is under no illusions about the scale of the challenge presented by perennial contenders Somerset, and especially on their own turf.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re a competitive side, so we know we\u2019ll have to be playing well,\u00a0especially how Somerset have looked in their pre-season.<\/p>\n
“But we\u2019ll review everything about them to make sure we know what we\u2019re coming up against.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe focus 80% on ourselves and 20% on the opposition, and we\u2019ll be making sure we\u2019re there to compete and that our standards are as high as they can be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joe Clarke is ready for his winter\u2019s work to take centre stage when Nottinghamshire\u2019s 2026 Rothesay County Championship…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[18304,1721,18306,15257,18308,101,18303,18305,56,54,55,18307],"class_list":{"0":"post-510116","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-bridge","9":"tag-cricket","10":"tag-nottingham","11":"tag-nottinghamshire","12":"tag-outlaws","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-trent","15":"tag-trentbridge","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-unitedkingdom","19":"tag-west-bridgford"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}