Ahead of a Bank Holiday Monday clash with Surrey at Trent Bridge, Lucy Higham is relishing the double-headed opportunity of pairing high-quality cricket with the Notts Street Food Festival.

The festival returns to Trent Bridge after drawing in thousands to witness The Blaze defeat Hampshire on the same day last year.

Higham is eagerly welcoming the prospect of an increase in those watching on in conjunction with the event.

“We love playing at Trent Bridge, and it’s obviously Food Festival day tomorrow too, which for a lot of the girls is our favourite day of the year,” she said.

“It will be a fantastic spectacle, and there’s a lot of excitement around that because of the crowd that will hopefully bring in.”

Higham retains her place in a 14-strong squad that also sees England wicketkeeper Amy Jones return, while Marie Kelly and Orla Prendergast miss out due to injury.

“Both Marie and Orla picked up minor niggles in Durham - Marie in the warm-up and Orla while batting,” explained Head Coach, Craig Cumming.

“While neither are serious, we’re being cautious with a long season ahead. We expect them both to be available for our next game.”

As for Higham, she has a positive outlook on her own performances so far this summer, and is hungry to contribute further as the games stack up.

“I’ve really enjoyed the season so far. It was great to have a bit of time batting with Kirstie yesterday,” she said.

“She’s been exceptional with the bat so far, and we’ve obviously spent quite a bit of time in the middle together over the years, so that was really enjoyable.

“With the ball too, I’ve been feeling good. We’ve played on some wickets recently that have been producing some spin, so that’s been good fun,” she continued.

“It might be a different challenge tomorrow at Trent Bridge depending on what wicket we’re on, but I’ve really enjoyed it so far.”

A challenge is certainly what Higham is expecting, with The Blaze having to contend not just with Surrey but also with the schedule, which has dealt them two games in three days.

However, she is confident that the side have trusted methods for dealing with the fatigue that will put them in the best possible place to secure a positive result.

“It is pretty tough when you consider we got back from Durham last night and we’ve only got one day off before we go again tomorrow,” she said.

“I think there will be some sore bodies, but we’re quite an experienced group and everyone knows what they should and shouldn’t be doing.

“It is tough, and recovery is so essential now with how quickly the games come, but I think our group is pretty good at doing the right things.

As for the Brown Caps themselves, Higham is naturally running the rule over their key players and plans, but is backing The Blaze’s preparations to be enough.

“They’re a fantastic group, and they have a lot of depth and experience alongside some exciting young talent that’s coming through,” she acknowledged.

“We’ll reflect on yesterday, looking for the positives as well as things that we can work on, which there will always be as 50-over cricket is a game of ups and downs.

“They have a few very, very good cricketers, but we’ll figure out what we can do best against them and go from there!

“The good thing about this group is that we look at ourselves first, which I think is really important in the first place.”