Tuesday 5 September 2017 11:54, UK
Nottinghamshire head coach Peter Moores has urged Samit Patel to continue making waves in county cricket in an effort to earn his way back into England contention.
Patel was influential in Notts' first-ever win in the NatWest T20 Blast, contributing a bombastic 64 not out from 42 balls as the Outlaws overcame Birmingham Bears by 22 runs in the final at Edgbaston on Saturday night.
The all-rounder was never far from the action on Finals Day, following up his knock with a run-out of Birmingham dangerman Ed Pollock, and afterwards expressed his "hurt" at being continually overlooked by England in the last couple of years.
The 32-year-old is arguably in the form of his life and has been Nottinghamshire's leading run-scorer in the Specsavers County Championship and their successful Royal London One-Day Cup campaign.
And Moores, who knows how it feels to be on the England scrapheap having been axed twice as head coach, believes international recognition will follow if Patel keeps delivering for Nottinghamshire.
"He's always been a really good player, there's no doubt about that, but I think he's found a new level of tempo and maturity whereby he's becoming very consistent as a batter," said Moores.
"In the last 12 to 15 months he has started to prepare better with a little bit more care about the intensity he needs to prepare in his game.
"I would say the same to Samit to any player: 'your job's to put the performances in, you can't control whether they pick you or not'. I can hear his frustration at times because he's played well, the key is to keep doing it, keep doing that level of work.
"I'm really pleased for him that he's had a good day because he's had a good season. Generally he's been fantastic."
Patel has 60 caps across all three formats for England but his only international in the last four years was in the final Test of the Pakistan tour in November 2015.
With spaces in England's limited-overs sides at a premium, Moores believes Patel's best opportunity at international recognition would come in the Test side, with the top order far from certain ahead of this winter's Ashes series.
"He's got his own style of play which I actually think internationally suits well because he sits back a little bit, he doesn't go at the moving ball quite the same as some people and he's a bloody good cricketer.
"The one-day team is healthy, the challenge is the Test squad. At the moment some people are taking some opportunities, it's still a little bit in the balance with the Ashes looming."
Nottinghamshire overcame Hampshire before seeing off Birmingham on Finals Day to complete a clean sweep of domestic limited-overs competitions this year.
They are also poised to swiftly regain their Division One status in the championship to cap what would be the perfect season under Moores, who has restored his reputation at Trent Bridge following his fall from grace with England.
"You don't imagine you're going to have a season when you win both one-dayers, you target them, of course you do.
"I think when we started we had a real focus on trying to get promoted out of the Second to the First Division. The one-day trophies, we knew we were a good side so we were going to go hard at it. Credit to the lads, they've worked really hard."
