Northamptonshire Steelbacks Vitality T20 Blast at Trent Bridge Loss 0 pts Report

 

WILLEY PUMMLES OUTLAWS TO CRUSHING DEFEAT

A 34-ball 79 (7x4, 7x6) from Northants skipper David Willey was the highlight as the visitors  thrashed Notts by 8 wickets with a mammoth 40 balls to spare as Notts started their T20 campaign in embarrassing fashion last night.

Northants won the toss and inserted Notts on a peach of a wicket. Notts sprung a major surprise when they omitted Liam Patterson-White from the final eleven. It left the team without balance and with an extremely long tail without big hitters. After the early loss of the ring rusty Hales, new 

T20 skipper Joe Clarke and Notts T20 debutant Jack Haynes shared a second wicket partnership of 95 in 8.4 overs before the wheels spectacularly fell off. From 104-1 after 10 overs, Notts lost 9 wickets for 54 as they were bowled out for 154 in 19.2 overs. It was not a really the case of good bowling it was a succession of wickets thrown away, the dismissals of Young and Moores being particularly x-rated. Very occasional slow left-armer Saif Zaib who had only previously taken 4 wickets in 61 T20 appearances could not believe his luck ending with figures if 3-0-12-3 picking up the wickets of Clarke, Haynes and Montgomery. Notts’ total was 50 under par and Northants cruised to victory with the Notts crowd leaving in their droves long before the end. 

Notts gave T20 debuts to Haynes, Young. Pennington and Lister. The general feeling among the crowd was after the loss of T20 regulars of Patel, Mullaney, Ball and Carter and a definite downgrade of overseas players due to the concurrent T20 World Cup this was the worst T20 Notts had fielded in a generation. A massive rebuild is on its way, hampered by the daft loan signings made in 2023. Their woeful performance backed this theory up.

Willey (Radcliffe Road End) conceded five runs off the opening over. Hales hit Weatherall's opening delivery to the point boundary. Two balls later, Hales (6) was caught behind by McManus off the 19-year-old right arm seamer, 9 for 1. Haynes smashed Weatherall for successive boundaries through back square leg and point. Clarke hit Willey for four through point and then a lofted straight driven boundary,  27 for 1 off 3 overs. Clarke cover drove Weatherall for four and off the last delivery of the 4th over lofted a six over square leg, 11 off the 4th over. Haynes hit Scrimshaw's opening ball for six over mid-wicket and. Clarke hit his fifth ball to the point ropes, 12 off the 5th over. Weatherall (3-0-35-1) bowled the sixth over of the powerplay, Clarke pulling him for four and hitting for a straight six into the Pavilion . Notts 63 for 1 at the end of the powerplay.

Haynes reverse swept Raza for 4 and then for two legside fours, 14 off the 7th over. Bopara conceded 6 off the 8th over. Haynes swept Heldreich for six over backward square leg and next  ball for four over mid-wicket, 13 off Heldreich’s solitary over. Clarke hit Bopara for four through backward point; 104 for 1 off 10 overs. Then everything unravelled as it was clear Notts batting lacked depth

Clarke (48 off 30 balls, 6x4, 2x6) holed out to Vasconcelos on the extra cover ropes with Zaib picking up a wicket with his first ball; 104 for 2. Only one run off the 11th over. Young (1 off 5 balls), not famed as a big hitter, was run out going for suicidal single to Willey at mid-on off Bopara, 105 for 3, four off the 12th over. Moores hit Raza for six over square leg. Haynes reached 50 off 28 balls with a single off Raza. After losing a cluster of wickets, Notts had to regroup but Moores (9) holed out to the long on ropes caught by Weatherall off Raza (2-0-23-1), 117 for 4 in the 13th over. Montgomery guided Bopara for four through third man and next ball reverse swept him to the ropes. Haynes was dropped on 50 a hard-hit return to Bopara (4-0-28-0) towards the bowlers head. Notts lost their fifth wicket when Haynes (51 of 32 balls, 6x4, 2x6) was caught on the wide long on ropes by Sikander off Zaib, 128 for 5 in the 15th over. He had shown much promise during the innings, him and Clarke being the sole bright lights on a woeful night. Four balls later, Montgomery was bowled on the sweep by Zaib for 11, 133 for 6. We were very much down to the tail Harrison hit Willey for four through backward square leg. Next ball Harrison was bowled leg stump by Willey (4-0-26-1) for 6, 140 for 7 in the 16th over.

Zaib conceded five off the 17th over. James (10), who never bowled on the night, was caught at mid-on by Willey off Scrimshaw, 151 for 8 in 18^th over. Pennington fell lbw first ball to Scrimshaw,  151 for 9. Lister saw off the hat trick ball. Willey ( 4-0-26-1) conceded three off the 19th over. Stone (7) was last man to fall caught behind by McManus off Scrimshaw (2.2-0-16-3). Notts 154 all out off 19.2 overs. Lister one not out. A completely inadequate score on the batsmen friendly surface. The game effectively already over as a contest.

Pennington (Radcliffe Road) opened with two wides in his opening three balls, interspersed by a boundary through point by Vasconcelos. Vasconcelos (5) attempting a ramp shot was caught by Clarke at slip off Pennington,  8 for 1. Eight off the opening over. Lister conceded two in the second over, off a promising opening over. Breetzke edged Pennington for four after earlier surviving  a confident lbw shout. He then hit the next ball to the point ropes. He made it three successive boundaries with four towards long leg, 13 off the 3rd over. Willey cover drove Stone for four, 6 off the 4th over. Willey hit Lister for six over square leg and Breetzke then hit the left armer for a straight six, 16 off the 5th over. Willey hit Stone for successive fours through extra cover and long off and then for a six into the Fox Road stand. The fourth ball was cover driven by Willey to the ropes.  The fifth ball was a four through point, 23 off the over. Northants 68 for 1 off 6 overs. New captain Clarke had no where to turn as the Notts novice attack had no total to defend on the easy batting deck.

Harrison's first delivery was hit for six over mid-wicket. Willey reached his 50 off 21 balls with an edged boundary off Harrison, 12 off the over. Willey hit Montgomery for four through long off, six off the 8th over. Willey (79 off 34 balls) hit Harrison for four successive sixes over long off, square leg, mid-wicket and long on. He holed out off the fifth ball caught at long on by James, 110 for 2 in the 9th over. A memorable innings, following a good bowling spell. Bopara took a single off the last ball.

Breetzke chipped Stone (3-0-38-0) for 6 over backward square leg. Bopara hit Harrison (3-0-46-1) for six over square leg, nine off the 11th over. Breetzke edged Lister (3-0-26-0) for four, eight off the 12th over. Pennington (3-0-37-1) went for two sixes in the 13^th over, Breetzke over square leg. Bopara over point. Montgomery (1.2-0-10-0) was summoned back and two balls later Breetzke (51 not out off 30 balls, 5x4, 3x6) lofted Montgomery for the winning boundary over extra cover at 20:55. Northants 157 for 2 off 13.2 overs. Northants had won their first ever T20 victory at Trent Bridge at the eighth attempt.

Notts will no doubt claim lack of practice for this defeat, all three of the second eleven T20 games having been abandoned. They will looking to bounce back tonight at Edgbaston already looking like a team heavily dependent on the top three in the batting order. Will coach Moores bring Fletcher and/or Patterson-White into the Eleven? MAG

31/05

Having watched the live stream from Northampton last night, a close, entertaining game: it is clear tonight's visitors will have to improve their ground fielding but they played to their strengths well - a mixed bag of pace-off options and the experience of David Willey and Ravi Bopara. Samit Patel's debut as Derbyshire captain ended in defeat but he did little wrong. Perhaps he batted himself too high up the order and he left himself short of a bowler at the death but he played the cards that he had at his disposal well.

30/05

Coach Peter has announced the following squad, and has pledged to entertain us (a week after the fake Robbie Williams performed in a car park at Trent Bridge):

Joe Clarke

Ben Martindale

Jack Haynes

Will Young

Alex Hales

Matt Montgomery

Tom Moores

Lyndon James

Liam Patterson-White

Calvin Harrison

Olly Stone

Dillon Pennngton

Ben Lister

Luke Fletcher

Unlike other counties, Notts haven't be able to have any match practice utilising the SET20 competition by packing their team with first teamers, as our 2s last three fixtures have all been NRs and clashes with Championship games. Northants play tonight as well, putting Notts further behind the curve with four matches to come in the first week of the competition.

So Many Debutants?, Call the Tatler!

Pravda has eventually reported that Ben Lister has arrived and you'd have to expect that he will be ready to go from the off, adding a bit of variety to our attack with his left armers. Will he be in the mould of either Harry Gurney or Luke Wood?

Ben Lister will be making his Outlaws T20 debut as will (probably) Jack Haynes and Dillon Pennington. It is almost inconceivable that in this era Notts would go into a T20 match with just one pace off bowler (Calvin Harrison) with perhaps only Monty as part-time back-up. so perhaps there will be another debutant in Liam Patterson-White.Who else could get the call? Who else is in Peter's plans?

All will be revealed later this afternoon, in true Pravda ceremonial style with a squad of 13 or 14 named in alphabetical order.

Will Peter's trustees be: Clarke, Hales, Young, Haynes, Montgomery, Moores, James, Fletcher, Stone, Harrison, Pennington, Lister, Slater, Hameed?

A more speculative squad might be: Clarke, Young, Hales, Haynes, Moores, Montgomery, Patterson-White, Stone, Harrison, Pennington, Lister, King, Singh but with an eye to the future McCann, Martindale, Holland and young Byron Hatton-Lowe would all be a step or three too far for the head coach. 

So will four Outlaws debutants be too many for Mr Moores to contemplate?

How much patience will there be for Alex Hales? He's already only deemed to make himself available for 8 or 9 group matches, so what if he continues his current run of form and repeats last season's scores for us. Since scoring a 47 in the PSL in February, in his 7 innings since he hasn't amassed 50 runs total (in PSL and SET20). Would PM "rest" Alex? Should Alex be opener at all as he will be leaving us in the lurch in July come what may, as both Will Young and Jack Haynes have done that job before at T20 and if (a big if) Ben Duckett becomes available in the later stages of the groups matches, opening will be where Team England will expect him to play.

If their are any fans of Marie Kelly reading, yes there's a double header tomorrow with The Blazers warming up proceedings against the Lady Bears (or whatever they will be known as next year) - but that's as much as a preview you're getting. Check out Facebook on Saturday or Sunday and I might have posted a few photos of the hors d'oeuvre match.