Title-chasing Nottinghamshire have received a triple boost on the back of head coach Peter Moores signing a new long-term deal.
The decision by Moores, 62, to commit at Trent Bridge has had a domino effect on the futures of Haseeb Hameed and Joe Clarke, captains of Nottinghamshire’s red-ball and Twenty20 teams respectively.
Both men are out of contract at the end of this season and while paperwork remains unsigned, Daily Mail Sport understands verbal agreements have been made for the duo to stay with a club that has pushed Surrey all the way in this year’s fight for the Championship.
It had been feared that if Moores left, Hameed and Clarke — senior cricketers with whom he has forged such strong working relationships — would follow.
Jack Haynes, who has scored four top-flight hundreds this summer, was another understood to be monitoring the situation before committing to the three-year contract extension announced this week that takes him up to the end of the 2028 season.
Nottinghamshire have also been boosted by a change in English cricket’s visa regulations for overseas players — allowing Australian fast bowler Fergus O’Neill, whose performances provided crucial early-season momentum this spring, to be re-employed for a lengthier spell in 2026.
Joe Clarke (left) has joined head coach Peter Moores in committing to Nottinghamshire
And so has red-ball captain Haseeb Hameed, who like Clarke was on a contract that expired at the end of this season
Before extending a 10-year period working under director of cricket Mick Newell, Moores was the subject of approaches from both Hampshire, in anticipation of Adrian Birrell vacating their head coach position at the end of this season, and Lancashire, the club he won the Division One crown with in 2011.
It was the lure of a return to Old Trafford, including an offer to be assistant coach at Manchester’s soon-to-be rebranded Super Giants Hundred team, that most concerned Nottinghamshire insiders.
Despite being in his 60s, Moores has lost none of the enthusiasm for developing players that has seen him win trophies at three different counties and appointed England head coach twice.
He recently signed a two-year extension as head coach of Melbourne Stars — the only one of eight teams yet to win Australia’s Big Bash League. His other current position is as batting coach with Deccan Gladiators at the Abu Dhabi T10.
And to satisfy Moores’ desire to expand his coaching CV, Nottinghamshire wrote in an extra clause in the three-year deal they secured his services with last month, granting him a third franchise placement this coming off-season if the opportunity arises.
O’Neill, 24, will be invited back for an extended stay next year following a change in English cricket’s governing body endorsement criteria for overseas players that means players can be recruited based on having played 20 first-class matches in the previous two years. Previously, the only criteria was having played 20 T20 games in ICC-recognised tournaments.
O’Neill, a red-ball specialist, can now return, though it might not come to that, as a seamer with 133 first-class career wickets at just 20 runs apiece could enter the equation for Ashes selection for Australia.
Bairstow’s uncertain future
Yorkshire captain Jonny Bairstow will begin talks with the club’s cricket manager Gavin Hamilton and head coach Anthony McGrath this week to decide how he might fit in once his ECB contract expires in a fortnight.
Jonny Bairstow has spent 16 years in the Yorkshire first team – but could he now be headed elsewhere?
Bairstow, who turns 36 on September 26, will effectively be a free agent from October 1 when his Yorkshire deal expires. It is seen as extremely unlikely that he would join another county, though if he cannot agree terms with his boyhood club then there is a chance he could go to a freelance white-ball role, including the option to play for Yorkshire in their T20 Blast campaigns.
Should he head back to the IPL next spring, it would almost certainly leave Yorkshire looking for someone new to wear the armband in Championship cricket. And the 2019 World Cup winner has various options on the franchise circuit.
His current SA20 deal with Sunrisers Eastern Cape predates the Sunrisers’ 100 per cent buyout of the Headingley-based Hundred side, but that development opens up the possibility of representing the organisation in other global leagues.
Mumbai Indians were known to be impressed with Bairstow’s displays as a last-minute replacement in the 2025 Indian Premier League, increasing the likelihood of him being snapped up at this winter’s auction.
Do Somerset have a need for Smeed?
Somerset’s Vitality Blast hero Will Smeed is another seeking clarity before the season is out.
Smeed’s 94 at Edgbaston last Saturday night steered Somerset to victory in the final against Hampshire and a record-equalling third title, six months after he reverted to a multi-format contract. That deal includes a review date at the end of September.
Back in 2022, the hard-hitting 23-year-old controversially quit four-day cricket before making a professional appearance, citing a ‘need to solely focus my attention on the limited-overs formats in order to become the very best cricketer I can be’.
Will Smeed’s 94 off 58 balls hauled Somerset over the line to claim their record-equalling third T20 Blast title on Saturday at Edgbaston
Having gone back on that decision, though, he is still to make a first-class debut and could seek to emulate Somerset team-mates like Shoaib Bashir, Ben Green and Lewis Goldsworthy by going out on loan in search of first-class action next year.
Jack’s back at Old Trafford
Another finals day competitor Jack Blatherwick has re-signed with Lancashire despite the arrival of another all-rounder in Durham’s Paul Coughlin — a move first revealed by Daily Mail Sport.
Golden oldies going round again
Ageless wonders Ravi Bopara and Samit Patel, the only two players to have featured in all 23 English domestic Twenty20 seasons since its inception in 2003, are intent on making it 24.
Bopara, 40, has made positive noises about extending his time with Saturday’s semi-finalists Northamptonshire while Patel, 41 in November, has begun talking to clubs about one last hurrah after leaving Derbyshire in July.
Ravi Bopara is edging towards extending his county career after a renaissance with Northamptonshire this season
Samit Patel is also keen to go round again, having starred for Derbyshire and Northern Superchargers this season
Family affair for the Flintoffs
Andrew Flintoff is set to make this winter’s England Lions’ tour of Australia a family affair by including sons Rocky and Corey in the plans.
Daily Mail Sport understands that 17-year-old Lancashire batsman Rocky will travel with the main touring party to Perth in early November while 19-year-old all-rounder Corey, now on a two-year rookie contract at Kent, will join up in Brisbane nearer to Christmas, once his university commitments are over for the winter term. Neither is likely to be considered for matches.
Despite breaking through in 2024, Rocky did not add to his first-team appearances for Lancashire this year due to a combination of selection issues, England Under 19s commitments and a pelvic problem that ended his season prematurely.
He is set to step up his rehabilitation Down Under alongside another injured youngster in exciting Derbyshire pace bowler Harry Moore, 18, who has been dogged by back issues.
Earlier this year, Rocky hit a quickfire hundred for the Lions against a Cricket Australia XI in Queensland.
The Lions are playing an integral part in England’s quest to win only a second away Ashes series since 1986-87, providing the opposition for Ben Stokes’ team in the only warm-up match — a three-day affair at Lilac Hill in the Perth suburbs.
Rocky Flintoff (centre) is set to join dad Andrew (right) on the England Lions tour this winter as they support Ben Stokes (left) and the senior squad
All-rounder Corey Flintoff, pictured here playing for Kent, is also in line to win a call-up
They also have two four-day fixtures against a CA XI and Australia A, running concurrently with the first and second Tests, which means players from the full tour who need game time could feature.
England are planning to pack their two squads with seam-bowling options, with the Lions group likely to feature Hampshire duo Sonny Baker, 22, and Eddie Jack, 20, plus 24-year-old Mitch Stanley, who claimed a maiden five-wicket haul in only his second first-class outing this month.
Provision has been made for one or two of them to remain in Australia beyond the end of the second Test at the Gabba when the Lions fly home.
England name their full and second-string squads for the Australian leg of their winter tour next week.
