Lincolnshire National Counties Showcase Event at Lincoln Lindum CC Loss

GOOD EVANS, LINCS INFLICT EMBARRASSING DEFEAT ON OUTLAWS

Notts slipped to an embarrassing and humiliating five wicket defeat to Lincolnshire in their Showcase Friendly at the Lindum Sports Ground today. After posting 331 all out, a win should have been a formality but an abject bowling and fielding performance meant the home side got home with a ball to spare. The hero for the home side was Leicestershire's Sam Evans with a splendid undefeated 132 off 119 balls (16x4) who took advantage of some very mediocre Notts seam bowling. Evans not good enough to get into Leicestershire’s championship or T20 line up is now likely to be in the Foxes Eleven against Notts at Grace Road on Wednesday.

Notts won the toss and elected to bat in front of a crowd of around 500. They rested Haynes, Patterson-White, Fletcher, James and Moores but Pennington was released by England to play and Brett Hutton made a welcome return after over three months out. Rob Lord was made his first team debut after making 20 with the bat he bowled mid innings bowling 0 for 31 off his five overs. He got some lift during his bowling stint but looked very raw. He certainly has considerably work to do with his ground fielding which was way below professional standards. There was no place for either Martindale or Montgomery.

In the 3rd over, McCann (4) edged Knapton (Wragby Road End) to keeper Sylvester, 17 for 1. King was dropped on 1 at point off Mills. A four through midwicket by King off Knapton (4 0 32 1) brought up the Notts 50 in the 7th over. Cook and Shephard (4 0 25 0) came on for the 9th and 10th overs respectively. Notts got to their 100 in the 16th over. King (40) was caught behind off slow left armer Cook; 103 for 2 in the 17th over. King let’s hope will be regular in the next three weeks. Pocklington made it an all-spin attack in the 18th over. Slater reached his 50 in the 19th over with a cover driven boundary off Cook. Slater was dropped on 64 by Mills at deep mid-wicket off Pocklington. Notts 146 for 2 after 25 overs.

Slater (70 off 72 balls, 9x4) was caught by Cook diving forward on the cover ropes off Joy; 156 for 3 in the 27th over. Schadendorf (1) fell to a catch behind the stumps by Silvester off Ben Wright in his second over; 163 for 4 in the 28th over. Pocklington changed to the Wragby Road End for the 29th over. Loten (13) was brilliantly caught and bowled one handed by Wright (6 0 59 2); 181 for 5 in the 32nd over. Cook returned for the 33rd over. A four through by Hameed off Wright took him to his 50 off 47 balls and Notts to their 200 in the 34th over. Joy returned for the 36th over. Lord hit a beamer from Cook (10 0 50 1) to the square leg ropes. The free hit was hit for four through extra cover. Pocklington (10 0 59 3) returned for the 39th over and Lord (20) spooned him to Wright at cover; 233 for 6. Notts reached 250 in the 43rd over. Singh hit three boundaries in four deliveries in the 44th over off Joy (9 0 49 1). Hameed (79 off 69 balls, 10x4) trying to force the pace was caught by Keast at long on off Pocklington; 276 for 7 in the 45th over. Hutton (2) fell in the same over caught on the deep mid-wicket ropes by Keast; 278 for 8. Singh (36 off 26 balls, 3x4, 1x6) hit the returning Mills for 6 over backward square leg but fell the next ball well caught on the mid-wicket ropes by Pocklington, 284 for 9 in the 46th over. The last wicket added 47 to seemingly put Notts into a winning position. Pettman hit Mills for four through backward point to bring up the Notts 300 in the 48th over. Pennington (28) hit two legside sixes in the 49th over which went for 26 runs. He perished in the final over caught off a skier in the covers by Wright off Mills (6.3 0 55 2). Notts 331 all out off 49.3 overs with Pettman on 17 not out.

Pettman (Wragby Road End) bowled the opening over which turned out to be only maiden of the match. Pennington opened up from the Mainwaring Road End. A slower ball from Pettman deceived Haider (9) who hit him to Hameed in the covers, 21 for 1 in the 7th over. Lincolnshire had reached 36 for 1 off 10 overs. From this point the wheels started to come off from a bowling perspective.

In the 11th over, Wright hit Pettman for 6 over long on and two balls later a boundary towards square leg; 11 off the over. Hutton replaced Pennington for the 12th over, Wright hitting him for a straight 6; his opening over going for nine. Loten came on for Pettman in the following over and his opening two deliveries went for 4 and 6 (via a ramp shot) in an over costing 11 runs. Wright reached his 50 off 52 balls with a single off Loten in the 19th over. After an spell of 4 overs for 30 a clearly rusty Hutton was replaced by Singh for the 20th over, Lincolnshire went past three figures in the same over. After bowling 5 overs for 32 Loten was replaced by McCann for the 23rd over. Ben Wright (69) was caught by King at long on off McCann, 134 for 2 in the 25th over. The 2nd wicket had added 111 in 18 overs with far too many loose deliveries offered by the seamers.

Evans got his 50 with an edged four off Singh in the 26th over. Singh bowled four overs for 23 before being replaced by Lord in the 28th over and he conceded seven off his opening over with Lincolnshire going beyond 150. McCann conceded 12 in the 31st over with Pocklington getting two boundaries and with figures of 5 overs one for 28 made way for Singh from the Wragby Road End who had Pocklington caught behind by Schadendorf; 185 for 3. Cook hit Singh for 6 over mid-wicket but the other five balls of the 37th over were dot balls. Lord (5 0 31 0) made way for Pennington for the 38th over and he dismissed Cook (12) was caught on the mid-wicket ropes by substitute James Hayes, 217 for 4. Lincolnshire needed 115 in 12.2 overs which should have beyond them but Notts produced a bowling and fielding performance which was below what is expected of a professional cricket team. Friendly it might have been but there is no excuse for sloppy fielding. There were far many fumbles in the field and instances of players diving over the ball.

Keast hit Singh (8 0 50 1) for a legside six in an over costing 12 runs including 2 leg byes. Pennington conceded 10 in the following over including successive boundaries for Keast. Lincolnshire 241 for 4 off 40 overs.

Loten returned and conceded eight off the 41st over. Evans hit the disappointing Pennington (8 0 49 1) for successive fours one straight Lord at backward point, 10 off the 42nd over. Loten (7 0 53 0) conceded 13 in the 43rd over. Hutton returned and Evans got to his ton off 103 balls with a single. Hutton conceded six off the 44th over. Pettman went for five in the 45th over. Hutton conceded 10 in the 46th over including a four through extra cover by Evans. Pettman bowled an eight ball over which went for 12 including a boundary for Evans. Evans hit successive boundaries off Hutton through mid-wicket and extra cover. Tom Keast (47 off 33 balls, 4x4, 1x6) fell to catch at long leg off Hutton, 315 for 5 with 13 balls remaining. Keast like Jordan Cook and Qundeel Haider are all products of the Notts Academy. Pettman (9 1 49 1) conceded nine off the 49th over. Hutton (7.5 0 66 1) bowled two dot balls to Sylvester but then the right hander hit him for four through square leg. The fourth ball went for a single and the winning hit came from the fifth delivery was directed to the long leg ropes by Evans. Lincolnshire on 334 for 5 in 49.5 overs with Sylvester on 11. A much-deserved triumph for the home team who took three outstanding catches in the outfield. The Imps fielded with much more enthusiasm than Notts and were never daunted chasing the large total. Hutton after a three month long lay off and debutant Lord can be excused for their bowling efforts but Pennington, Pettman and Loten all put in disappointing performances. The club will turn round and say this was only a friendly. Granted but we should have expected more based on the fact that Pennington is fighting for a test place and Pettman and Loten a place in the first team. Evans apart they were bowling at club cricketers.

Notts appear in disarray, their seam bowling resources for the 50 over competition very threadbare. We have James and two bowlers Hutton and Fletcher on their way back from long layoffs, but what lies beneath them? From the evidence of today not a lot. Maybe though it will the case of Good Lord rather than Good Evans later on this week?

With youngsters McCann and King in their line up I expect our batting should to be competitive but unless Notts play on slow and low pitches which will suit spin their seam bowling attack is likely to leak a bagful of runs. As we saw today they lack any kind of penetration on flat pitches, remember Radlett last year! Let’s hope I am proved wrong. The non signing of an overseas bowler is I believe leaving the members very short changed. I’m a great supporter in giving youth a chance but they have to do so within a competitive line up. Very worrying times.

Let’s though take it on the chin, dust ourselves down and get ready for Wednesday! MAG (or is that Peter Moores?)

Squad:

Haseeb Hameed

Ben Slater

Freddie McCann

Sammy King

Dane Schadendorf

Tom Loten

Fateh Singh

Rob Lord

Brett Hutton

Dillon Pennington

Toby Pettman

James Hayes

Steven Mullaney

What participation Steven Mullaney will take remains to be seen.

Preview:

For the Notts Outlaws, the Blast is now in the past. We move on to the Metro Bank Cup next, a player development competition to some, but to other counties a List A competition with a piece of silverware at the end of it and so have signed overseas players to specifically play in this competition to enhance their club's chances and reaching the September finale. Notts fall into the "some" category, Rob Lord being the only signing made to enhance our squad.


Notts will enter the Metro Bank competition without key components to both their batting and in their bowling departments, which is the norm now for "August" owing to the draftees into the H*ndred but also because of International call ups, as well as to injury.


As alluded to by MAG in his latest report from Headingley, Notts Outlaws are likely to be very light on seam/pace/medium pace bowling options, exasperated by the potential injury to Lyndon James last night.


Sunday sees a Showcase Event with the Outlaws playing at Lincoln Lindum CC against Lincolnshire CCC. I not sure if the game is a showcase for: cricket in that city, National County Lincolnshire CCC in the 50 over format, or for the Lindum CC cricket ground and its potential suitability for future Notts and Blaze fixtures? Probably all three. Notts CCC have done all of the pre-match ticketing through their website (£5 adults, £5 car park). Note that there will be a £1 price hike for tickets bought on the day.


The drowning head coach will have to rely on his chums for a lifeline, being completely out of his depth and comfort zone with the players that he has at his disposal for the "August" period. One glimmer (of familiarity) for Peter is that, son Tom hasn't been co-opted into Uncle Mick's Rockets in any capacity this year, not even his regular gig of bench warmer has been forthcoming in 2024, so it'll be just ten names that Peter will need some help with on the team sheet.


We await in anticipation for the squad to play the Yellowbellies...