Two wins for Notts at Lady Bay

DOUBLE DELIGHT FOR OUTLAWS

In a double-header of T20 matches hastily arranged with neighbours Leicestershire, Outlaws fielded a strong XI in the first of the scheduled games at the Notts Sports Ground, Lady Bay.

Captain Jake Libby opted to chase following the toss against a Foxes XI comprised of First XI squad players, Academy players and trialists, including Ben Kitt, formerly on the Notts books.

All the clean benches in the shade were taken as a good number of spectators enjoyed the sunshine too as Luke Wood bowled the first over. Libby, as does regular T20 skipper Dan Christian, chose to rotate the bowlers in the powerplay and it was Hasan Azad that was the first wicket to fall, giving Lyndon James a regulation catch off Matt Carter. T20 not Azad's forte, I would suggest. Aadil Ali and Harry Swindells both hit boundaries off Luke Fletcher's first over and it was Aadil Ali that went on to hit Zak Chappell for successive sixes before two balls later feathering an edge behind to Tom Moores.

Liam Patterson-White managed to contain Swindells and Ateeq Javid in his first over to four runs, but Javid hit him for a maximum in his second. Ateeq Javid was scoring freely, hitting Zak Chappell for six, only next ball chasing quick runs, saw Harry Swindells run out by a good direct hit throw by Joe Clarke. In his third and fourth overs, Liam Patterson-White picked-up the wickets of Sam Evans and Ateeq Javid (40 off 33 balls).

With just young lads batting now, Luke Wood and Luke Fletcher limited the boundaries to just one four in the last three overs, Foxes closing on 150/6 after 20 overs.

Outlaws opened with Chris Nash and Joe Clarke; it was a case of six and out for Chris Nash, handing former Nottinghamshire prospect Hasan Azad a catch off Will Davis following a six the previous ball, in the second over of the innings which still yielded 16 runs. In came Jake Libby 2.0 and with Joe Clarke, looking increasingly confident and trouble free, the pair took the score to 98, with Clarke making his 50. Jake Libby then holed-out for 33 off Will Davis and next ball, the first ball of eleventh over Joe Clarke got out, giving others a chance in the middle, 52(31 balls).

Worryingly, Tom Moores didn't seem to time the ball too well, scratched about for a run a ball 16. Fletcher, however was hitting the ball hard and it was one hard hit that landed on the pavilion roof, chipping another tile from the dilapidated structure that won the game for the hosts, with 17 balls spare.

A useful workout but a mis-match of opponents in the first encounter.

I didn't see the second match where most of the Outlaws senior players didn't take part, indeed Chris Nash was seen speeding off in his Merc following the first match's conclusion.

But from the scorecard for the second match, it is clear that Zak Chappell again proved expensive against his old team mates as he did in the first match.

Stand out performers in the latter game for Outlaws were Sol Budinger 74 (42), however Notts were bowled out for 162 in 19.1 overs, but Matt Carter with figures 4-2-5-5 meant that Foxes were bowled out themselves for 114, in spite of 67 (41) by Harry Swindells.

No Coughlin, Christian or Duckett playing today.

With a bit of luck, the positives from today can be carried through to Wednesday's match against Northamptonshire Steelbacks. DDG