Leicestershire Foxes Vitality T20 Blast at Trent Bridge Win Report

 

UNCONVINCING OUTLAWS PREVAIL TO REACH QUARTER-FINALS

Notts head to Taunton next Friday after unconvincingly just narrowly beating Leicestershire by 4 runs at Trent Bridge today. With Derbyshire and Northants both losing Notts would have still progressed to the last eight irrespective of had what happened today

Notts won the toss and elected to bat on a windy day with intermittent sunshine. With Stone getting injured on Friday, Harrison came into the line-up. Steven Mullaney also reported to sick bay with a side strain so in came Haseeb Hameed with Alex Hales skippering the team.

Clarke outside edged the first ball from Parkinson (Radcliffe Road End) to the third man ropes. The last ball of the over which cost 11 was hit by Hales for 6 over extra cover. In the following over, Clarke (7) chased a wide delivery from Finan and was caught by keeper Handscomb, 14 for 1. After three dots, James cover drove Finan for 4, seven off the second over. Hales hit Walker for 4 through backward point, 9 off the 3rd over. Hales lofted Finan for four over cover. Hales (26 off 13 balls, 2x4, 2x6) hit Finan for 6 over square leg , but next ball he was caught at extra cover off a wide full toss delivered by Scriven, 40 for 2 after 4 overs. Montgomery (0 off 3 balls) making room lost his middle stump to Walker, 41 for 3.. James hit Parkinson for 4 through backward point. Notts 52 for 3 after 6 overs.

James (12) cut Parkinson to Patel at backward point, 58 for 4 off 7 overs. Scriven conceded 5 runs off the 8th over. Hameed cover drove Ackermann for 4, nine and a leg bye off the 9th over. Scriven bowled the 10th over and conceded three singles and a leg bye. Notts 77 for 4 off 10 overs.

Moores edged Ackermann (4 0 38 1) for 4 and then three balls later lofted hit him for 6 over square leg and into the second tier of the Fox Road Stand. Hameed (23 off 20 balls, 2x4) lofted Scriven for a straight four but then was out next ball. Attempting a leg side slog, Hameed lost his middle stump to Scriven, 94 for 5 in the 12th over. The fifth wicket had added 36 in 5 overs. Moores found the ropes three times in the 13th over two through mid-wicket and the other through extra cover, 14 off the 13th over. Scriven finished with figures of 4 0 19 1 conceding 5 off the 14th over, Notts 115 for 5 with Moores, with Imad as his partner, very much dominating the scoring,

Moores hit Walker for 4 through backward point, 8 off the 15th over. Moores hit Parkinson for 6 over extra cover, 11 off the 16th over. Moores got to his 50 inside edging a no ball from Finan for 4. Two balls later Moores hit Finan for four through extra cover Moores was dropped on 57 at extra cover by Walker off Finan. Next ball, Imad (8) was caught on the mid-wicket ropes by Welch off Finan, 146 for 6 off 17 overs. The 6th wicket stand was worth 52 off 5.4 overs with Imad facing 14 balls.

Afridi charging down the pitch was stumped by Handscomb off Parkinson (4 0 37 1) to depart for a golden duck, 147 for 7, five off the 18th over. Moores (68 off 40 balls, 8x4, 2x6) straight drove Walker for 4 but then fell next ball caught by the diving Louis Kimber at wide long on off Walker (4 0 28 2), 160 for 8 off 19 overs. Moores had followed his 73 on Friday with another important knock which ensured Notts had a total to defend. It was his best white ball knock for Notts since the pandemic.

Finan (4 0 39 1) conceded 8 off the last over with last three balls all being twos for Harrison. Notts 168 for 8 off 20 overs with on Harrison on 10 and Carter on 1. The total was considerably under par but given the lack of quality in the Foxes Eleven, Notts, who very much had Tom Moores to thank, were still in the game.

Handscomb tamely chipped Afridi's (Pavilion End) first ball straight to Hales at mid-on, 0 for 1. A soft dismissal but hopes that the Foxes would collapse like The Bears on Friday were erased as Mulder and Patel shared a second wicket stand of 70 off 5.4 overs. Mulder cover drove Afridi twice in three balls, nine off the first over. Mulder hit Carter for 4 through fine leg, 8 off the 2nd over. Patel hit Afridi for successive boundaries through mid-on and square leg, 10 plus a bye off the 3rd over. Patel hit Imad's first two deliveries for 4 through mid-on and square leg, 13 off the 4th over. Patel hit Ball s first delivery for 6 into the Fox Road Stand. Mulder hit Ball for successive fours through mid-wicket and the covers, 16 off the over. Mulder hit Carter for 4 through third man. Patel reverse swept Carter for 6. The Notts performance was very flat and the crowd was the quietist we have ever heard at a T20 game at Trent Bridge. Suddenly out of nothing, Hales produced a spectacular diving catch to his right at wide mid-on to remove Rishi Patel (37 off 20 balls, 4x4, 2x6) at mid-on off Carter. Leicestershire 70 for 2 off 6 overs, only needing 99 off 14 overs.

Mulder hit Harrison's first delivery for 4 through mid-wicket, nine off the 7th over. Imad conceded four off the 8th over. Mulder on 39 was dropped by Clarke at backward point off Ball, an easy chance put down. Ackermann hit Ball for four through wide third man, 7 off the 9th over. Ackermann was caught by James at short cover off Harrison for 11, 90 for 3. Five balls later, Harrison took his second wicket in the over when Hill shuffling across his crease lost this leg stump to depart for 1, 92 for 4 off 10 overs.

Kimber fell to well-judged diving catch by Hameed on the mid-wicket ropes off Imad Wasim, 95 for 5 after 11 overs. Leicestershire were losing their way.

Harrison conceded four off the 12th over. Welsh sweeped Imad to Carter to short fine leg who had just been moved there, 103 for 6 off 13 overs. Imad (4 0 24 2) had only conceded 11 off his last three overs, dusting off his cobwebs following his 3-month layoff from cricket. The Foxes had lost 4 wickets for 13 in 4 overs. Mulder, like Moores in the Notts innings was now playing a virtual lone hand. Scriven joined him and the pair shared a 7th wicket partnership of 41 in 4.3 overs to keep them in the contest.

Scriven hit Carter for 4 through backward point, 9 off the 14th over. Scriven hit Ball for 6 over mid-wicket, 9 off the 15th over. Mulder hit Harrison for 6 over deep cover and then a four through square leg. The last ball Mulder hit Harrison (4 0 31 2) for 4 through mid-wicket, 16 off the over.

Afridi conceded 4 off the 17th over, 28 runs now needed off 3 overs. Scriven (18) top edged attempting a sweep off Carter (4 0 34 2) to Imad at mid-off 144 for 7. Four off in the 18th over. In the 19th over, Walker (1) fooled by a slower ball from Afridi (4 0 26 2) skied the ball and Hales running from mid-off to mid-on, took a great diving catch at mid-on. His third catch of the innings, 145 for 8.

Leicestershire needed 20 off the last over Mulder hit first delivery for 6 over point. The next two deliveries were twos to Mulder, 10 now needed off three balls. Mulder could only manage a single off the 4th ball with Finan now on the strike, he could only manage consecutive twos off the final two balls as Notts scraped home. Ball (4 0 47 0) not looking completely fit had proved somewhat expensive. Mulder was left on a T20 best of 83 not out off 50 balls (9x4, 2x6).

Somerset will be strong favourites on Friday, Notts having struggled somewhat after losing Munro and Patel to injury. In a further blow they will be without lynchpin Afridi (22 wickets @20.81) who flies back to Pakistan to prepare for a two match Test series in Sri Lanka. Much will rest on Clarke, Hales and the in-form Moores to post a competitive total at Taunton. MAG

02/07

The squad is...

... as predicted below

01/07

Apparently the Notts Outlaws squad was put into the hands of Mitchell Starc and he's put it down somewhere. He says, "I had full control of it all the way but then the grass just leapt-up and grabbed it. I've done the same thing a million times before, without a problem".

Here's Harry's guess of what it might be, once found:

Joe Clarke
Alex Hales
Lyndon James
Matt Montgomery
Tom Moores
Imad Wasim
Steven Mullaney
Calvin Harrison
Matt Carter
Jake Ball
Conor McKerr
Haseeb Hameed
Ben Martindale

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An Outlaws win would secure a Quarter final place. Where a win would position Outlaws in the North Group final table would be dependent on other results. All final positions from second to seventh are still possible for Outlaws depending on all the matches', that are being played similtaneously, outcomes.

At Trent Bridge against Foxes it won't be easy for irratic Notts. Leicestershire raise their game significantly at Trent Bridge

What bowlers do we have left functioning? Will the destructive Alex Hales bring his bat to the contest?