OUTLAWS IN A SHAMBLES AT THE RIVERSIDE
Outlaws slaughtered in the field at the death
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| "we'll take that on the chin" |
A woeful performance with ball and in the field by Notts was fully exploited by top of the table Durham who registered a club record Blast score as they eased to a 49 run victory at a packed Riverside last night.
Notts won the toss and elected to bowl on a flat pitch with short boundaries. Stone, made his long awaited return from injury, replacing the suspended Pennington. It was clear though he was rusty and should have been playing warm up games prior to his selection. Rob Lord should have been given a go. Henriques was still suffering from his back injury. What was the Director of Cricket thinking when he signed a 38 year old with such a bad recent injury record?
Stone's (Lumley End) opening delivery was hit for a straight four by Clark. Three balls later, Lees found the extra cover ropes, 11 off the first over. Sams conceded five off the second over. Clark hit Farhan for consecutive fours through extra cover and long leg, 12 off the third over. Lees pulled Stone for four through square leg and two balls later for a mid wicket boundary. Clark hit the last delivery for six over mid wicket, 16 plus a leg bye off the 4th over. Montgomery went for six off the 5th over. Lees ramped Sams for four and drilled him for a lofted straight boundary. Clark also lofted Sams for a straight four. The last ball of the powerplay was hit by Clark for 6 over square leg. Durham 70 for 0 after 6 overs.
The spinners temporarily put a slight brake to the scoring. Farhan conceded four singles off the 7th over. Harrison went for 6 in the 8th over. Clark (40) fell to catch on the deep point ropes by Sams off Montgomery, 83 for 1 in the 9th over. Harrison then went for five singles. Durham 90 for 1 off 10 overs.
Lees hit Farhan for a six over long off, 10 off the 11th over. Lees reached his 50 off 34 balls with a single off Patterson-White. Ackermann leg glanced the slow left armer for four, 10 off the 12th over. Lees straight drove Farhan for four twice in three balls. Some poor fielding from McCann gifted Ackermann a four through long on, 14 off Farhan's (4 0 40 0) last over. The Notts fielders on the night had got diving over the ball down to an art form.
Ackermann hit Patterson-White for four through backward square leg. Lees lofted Patterson-White for four through square leg, 12 off the 14th over. Lees hit Stone (3 0 42 1) for successive fours through long on and long off. The third ball went for four through long leg. Lees (77 off 46 balls, 11x4, 1x6) departed the following ball caught by Harrison at backward square leg off the clearly rusty Stone, 148 for 1 in the 15th over.
Harrison bowled Neesham (3) off stump, 151 for 3. Three singles off the 16th over. McKinney (6) hit Montgomery for four through square leg but perished two balls later caught on the long on ropes by Harrison off Montgomery 158 for 4. Unbelievably Durham managed to score 73 off the last 3.3 overs. The captain all at sea with his bowling changes with a capped all-rounder [James] not even given a bowl!
Rhodes hit his first delivery for a straight four, 12 off the 17th over. Ackerman found the extra cover ropes off Sams. Sams (2.4 0 34 0) bowled two beamers in the same over and had to be taken off. His dreadful tournament going from bad to worse. Patterson-White (2.2 0 24 0) completed his over. Ackermann hit Montgomery (4 0 54 2) for three consecutive legside sixes to reach his 50 off 25 balls. The fourth and fifth deliveries went for fours through long on. The last ball went for six over square leg; 32 off the 19th over. The carnage continued in the last over with another 19 runs being amassed. Ackermann hit Harrison (4 0 33 2) for a straight four and then two consecutive sixes over square leg. A two came off the fifth ball. Ackermann (83 off 33 balls, 7x4, 7x6) holed out to Sams on the mid wicket ropes. Durham 231 for 5 off 20 overs. Rhodes 9 not out. It was their highest ever score in the Blast beating their 225 for 2 off 20 overs against Leicestershire at the Riverside in 2010. Fifty one off the last two overs which were bowled by the spinners - a novel tactic!
McCann (5) was given the opening slot instead of James who came in at number four. He lofted Parkinson (Lumley End) for a straight four but departed two balls later caught by Rhodes at mid on, 6 for 1 after the opening over. Clarke hit Foulkes for a four through extra cover and the next ball for a straight four, 11 plus a leg bye off the 2nd over. Haynes guided Parkinson for four through square leg and Clarke hit him for four through backward point, 12 off the 3rd over. Haynes hit Aldridge for six over square leg. Lees took a fine catch running towards long on holding the effort in the swirling wind off Aldridge, Haynes out for 14, 37 for 2. James hit his first two balls for fours through the covers, 45 for 2 off 4 overs. Clarke hit Neesham for a straight six. James hit the Kiwi for four and sixes through mid wicket, 19 off the 5th over. James guided Foulkes (2 0 23 0) for four through fine leg. James hit the final ball of the powerplay for a straight four. Notts 76 for 2 off 6 overs.
James (30) hit Sowter straight to McKinney on the mid wicket ropes, 81 for 3 off 7 overs. Clarke hit Ackermann for a six over square leg, 12 off the 8th and Ackermann's sole over of the night. Moores hit Sowter for six over long off to bring up the Notts 100, 12 off the 9th over. At this stage Notts were just ahead of the DLS Par score but predictably did not keep up with the rate.
Clarke (41 off 25 balls, 3x4, 2x6) was caught attempting a ramp shot by Sowter at short third man off Neesham (2 0 26 1), 106 for 4. Not a shot that Clarke plays well. Moores hit Neesham for four through point , seven off the 10th over.
Moores (18) was bowled by a well pitched ball from Aldridge , 112 for 5. Patterson-White (8) edged his first delivery for four off Aldridge, the next ball went four through wide long leg. He departed third ball caught at long on by Rhodes off Aldridge, 120 for 6. Twelve off the 11th over. Montgomery swept Parkinson for four. Parkinson bowled five wides and then Sams hit him for six over mid wicket, 19 off the 12th over. The hapless Sams (9) was bowled by Sowter , 143 for 7. Montgomery chipped Sowter for four over extra cover and then hit for six over square leg, 13 off the 13th over. Montgomery reverse swept Parkinson (4 0 52 1) for four. He then swept him for four through square leg. The fifth ball of the over went for six over mid wicket; 15 off the over. Notts 171 for 7 off 14 overs.
Montgomery lofted Sowter (4 0 39 2) for four through the covers, 9 off the 15th over. Notts managed to lose their last three wickets in three balls. Harrison (7) was caught in the covers by Clark off Aldridge, 182 for 8 in the 16th over. Stone was run out first ball going for an impossible single hitting the ball gently on the legside. Lees picked the ball up and threw the ball to Aldridge at the stumps. Montgomery (41 off 18 balls, 5x4, 2x6) then scooped the ball into orbit with keeper Robinson taking the easy catch. Aldridge had taken 5 for 29 in 16 balls. Notts 182 all out off 15.4 overs. A valiant effort with the bat but it does not gloss over an inept performance in the Durham innings. Notts lie sixth in the table with only mathematical chance of qualification. MAG
Joe Clarke
Lyndon James
Jack Haynes
Freddie McCann
Tom Moores
Matt Montgomery
Daniel Sams
Liam Patterson-White
Olly Stone
Calvin Harrison
Farhan Ahmed
So it's official, 'cos Charles Dagnall says it's so, Joe Clarke is the least successful captain of Notts Outlaws in history.
That's no surprise, through things are slightly improving in 2025 as we could now be described as inconsistant or hit and miss.
Captaincy hasn't done the out of sorts Clarke much good when it comes to his batting although he does average 29.8 in Blast 2025., but that's hardly enough when leading from the front as the usually dominating batsman aims to do.
Bigger problems surround the bowling:
Dillon Pennington suspended
Is Moises still injured?
Conor McKerr overly expensive, but at Welbeck today proving slightly less expensive with RPO of 5.5
The 2s now stand second in their North Group and a win at Repton School against Derbyshire next week will secure a best runners-up position and a trip to finals day.
Why the bespectacled Sam Seecharan hasn't been given a senior debut, remains an oversight - 49 off 13 balls today - why can't he open instead of Lyndon to puts some power back into our powerplays?
Dane Schadendorf a good 50 today as well
Might as well send henriques home?
ReplyDeleteChilwell outlaw.
Bringing him in at his age was a huge gamble - it could have worked, sadly it’s been a disaster signing
ReplyDeleteThe decision for him to start bowling and admittedly we were struggling(badly) was a very poor one indeed, but as pointed out above, team selection in this years blast 💥 t20 is on a par with last year at times - utterly bewildering but we’ve still got an outside chance of making the qtrs
The balance of the side is off, as we're lacking an all rounder who can bowl in the powerplay. Three seasons ago we had a 38 year old in the form of Samit Patel, who was released because he was deemed over the hill. Steven Mullaney is now 38 years of age and is retired. It seems perverse to bring in an injury case at the age of 38, at great expense no doubt , as one of our overseas players even though he is an all rounder, yet Newell saw that 38 year old signing as something of a coup.
DeleteMick Newell hasn't replaced Steven Mullaney who stopped playing three seasons ago now. It's not worth mentioning Joey Evison again, but better foresight on the part of the club and more patience from the player, with perhaps more use of the loan system, then we might have been in a better position now.... he would have been Mull's obvious successor.
Yes, indeed - the absence of the near guaranteed 8 overs of pace off/spin from Mull & Samit coupled with the lack of death ☠️ bowling is costing us dearly in almost every game we play
ReplyDeleteThe batting unit, whilst not in the same league as previous Outlaws sides, is still pretty strong and holding up generally speaking in most of the games we play.
Can only think the Henriques signing was to bring an experienced Dan Christian type of leader and performer into the group - though how much groundwork was done who knows and guess it was a relatively easy signing for the DoC due to his Agent ?
He'll be signing Chris Gayle as a replacement next.
Delete82 NOT OUT
ReplyDeleteThe BLAST season is now over for Notts . They should concentrate all available resources and go all out for the County Championship title. We have every chance of winning it . With the late games in an unpredictable September then the weather may play an important part .
Richard