Northamptonshire Steelbacks Vitality T20 Blast at Wantage Road Win 4 pts Report

 

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OUTLAWS STRANGLE A WIN AWAY AT LEADERS NORTHANTS

Tom Moores tops with destructive fifty

Notts pulled off a surprise by defeating North leaders Northants by 24 runs at a packed Wantage Road last night. On a tired used surface it was Tom Moores who once again came to the fore with a muscular 27-ball 53, It was then left to the Notts spinners to tie the Steelbacks down in the chase with Saif Zaib with a 29-ball 37 top scoring.

Unchanged Notts won the toss and elected to bat on a gloriously sunny Friday evening.

Willey (Pavilion End) conceded a single off the opening over. James hit a free hit from Sanderson to the long leg ropes. A shot he repeated three balls later, 11 off the 2nd over. Willey went for two singles in the 3rd over. James hit Sanderson for consecutive fours through mid-wicket and extra cover. James on 17 was dropped by Procter off Sanderson in the covers – it proved not to be a costly error. Clarke (3), with one hand off the bat, skied Sanderson to Willey at wide mid-on who took the catch (23 for 1). Haynes hit Sanderson for four through point, 13 off the 4th over. Three runs came off the 5th over bowled by Broad. James (19) was caught behind by McManus off Procter's first ball (30 for 2). Two off the 6th over. Notts 32 for two at the end of the powerplay.

McCann slogged Broad (2 0 9 0) to the mid-wicket ropes, six off the 7th over. Haynes found the extra cover ropes off Pope and then hit a four through backward point, 11 off the 8th over. McCann (8) was brilliantly caught by Willey running back from mid-on off Scrimshaw (50 for 3), five off the 9th over. Procter went for 4 off the 10th over. Notts 58 for 3.  

Haynes and Moores provided acceleration adding 43 in five overs. Moores hit Scrimshaw for six over square leg. Next ball, Moores nudged a four through wide long leg. Off the fifth delivery, Moores hit the left armer for four through mid-off, 19 off the 11th over. The 12th over bowled by Pope went for 8 including 4 byes. Willey went for six in the 13th over. Haynes (32 off 26 balls, 3x4) on the sweep was leg before to Pope (93 for 4), five off the 14th over. Sams hit Willey for a straight four to bring up the Notts 100. Next ball, Sams (6) was bowled by Willey playing on via his pads (102 for 5). Eight runs of Willey's (4 0 17 1) last over. Willey having a superb game. Moores hit Pope (4 0 27 1) for a lofted straight four, seven off the 16th over. Notts 111 for 5 crucially clobbered 53 runs off the last four overs to set up a competitive total.

Moores hit Procter (3-0-26-2) for two enormous sixes over long on and long off respectively. The third ball was a full toss which Moores (53 off 27 balls, 5x4, 3x6) smashed for a straight four.  Ball number four went for a square leg four to bring up his 50 off 26 balls. He fell off the last ball of the over brilliantly caught low down by Willey running in from the long on ropes (131 for 6); 20 off the 17th over. Moores had played the best innings of the match.

Montgomery (9) guided Sanderson for a six over long on but fell next ball caught at long off by Broad. Notts 141 for 7 off 18 overs. Patterson-White (11) hit Scrimshaw (3 0 34 2) for a straight six but was bowled two balls later (149 for 8), 10 off the 19th over. Harrison hit Sanderson (4 0 47 2) for a straight six of the penultimate delivery of the innings. Harrison scampered two off the last ball. Notts 164 for 8 off 20 overs with Harrison on 12 and Farhan on 2.

Pennington (Pavilion End) went for two off the opening over. Vasconcelos top edged Sams for 6 and then scooped him much more convincingly for another 6 three balls later; 13 off the 2nd over. Breetzke (2) was caught by the juggling Sams on the square leg ropes (15 for 1); three off the 3rd over. James went for five in over number four. Broad hit Sams for four through mid-wicket, six off the 5th over. Broad (16) hit Farhan for four through wide long leg but was dismissed off the last ball of the powerplay caught by Haynes on the square leg ropes (34 for 2).

Montgomery went for three singles off the 7th over. Vasconcelos skied Farhan into the air and was caught by Pennington at backward square leg (37 for 3), 4 off the 8th over. Harrison, who has enjoyed a successful red-ball loan spell with the Cobblers,  got a delivery to the dangerous Bopara (5) to pop and the ball was played straight back to the bowler (45 for 4), five off the ninth over. Farhan went for four singles with Northants 50 for 4 off 10 overs.

Northants fought back with Zaib and Willey sharing a partnership of 35 in 4.3 overs. Willey hit Montgomery for six over square leg, 10 off the 11th over. Willey smashed Farhan's (4 0 23 2) last delivery for six over mid-wicket, 10 off the 12th over. Zaib cover drove Pennington for four, 10 off the 13th over. Willey (20), who went for one big shot too many, was caught on the mid-wicket ropes by Sams off Montgomery (80 for 5). A key wicket and Notts were now favourites. McManus, who in his brief cameo playing the spinners efficiently, reverse swept Montgomery for four, nine off the 14th over. McManus swept Harrison for four through long leg, eight off the 15th over including two leg byes.

McManus hit Sams for four through backward point and then Zaib hit him for six over mid-wicket just over Haynes' head, 15 off the 16th over. Harrison (3 0 17 1) went for six off the 17th over. Northants needed 47 off the last three overs. Zaib (37) hit Pennington (4 0 30 2) for a massive six over long leg but he perished two balls later caught at mid-wicket by Haynes (125 for 6) – the 6^th wicket stand had added 45 in 4.4 overs. Procter hit his first delivery for six over long leg, 15 off the 18th over. Northants innings ended quickly losing their last 4 wickets in 7 balls. McManus failed to get hold of a high full toss from Sams which looked suspiciously like a no ball, and was caught scooping the ball to short fine leg by Patterson-White (134 for 7). Sanderson hit Sams (4 0 41 2) for a straight six then the next delivery was a dot ball. Sanderson (6) batted a short ball straight to Pennington on the square leg ropes (140 for 8).  Northants needed 25 off the last over. They lost their last two wickets of the opening two deliveries of the 20th over bowled by Montgomery. Procter (8) was caught at long on by McCann (140 for 9). At 21:24 Scrimshaw fell for a golden duck caught by Clarke in the covers. Montgomery with a T20 career best of 3.2 0 22 3. Northants 140 all out off 19.2 overs with Pope 0 not out. Northants had been squeezed by the three Notts spinners who achieved combined figures 10.2 0 62 6. Amazingly Patterson-White was never given a bowl.

Notts, who are more suited to playing on such surfaces we saw last night, which hides the lack of quality in their T20 seam bowling resource,  are sixth in the table. Northants remain top despite losing their last two matches. Notts who have played more T20 games than any of the other 17 counties now return to red ball action tomorrow with Ishan Kishan, the Indian reserve keeper, expected to made his debut versus Yorkshire at Trent Bridge as locum for Kyle Verreynne. MAG

With less than twenty-four hours since their latest under-performance, the Silver Fox's Outlaws will set out against league leaders Northants.

Where did all that confidence from Birmingham go to? It certainly didn't get off the coach at Leicester, so can the players find it again down at the Wantage Road stop?