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Notts won their seventh consecutive T20 game beating Durham this afternoon at the Riverside by two runs in another nail biter. They remain two points ahead of Yorkshire at the top of the Northern Section.
Durham won the toss and inserted an unchanged Notts. Ben Stokes watched the game but was not in the Durham line-up. The used pitch was very slow and it became harder and harder for the batsmen to time their shots as the ball got older. With long square boundaries it was proved difficult for both teams to accelerate in the second half of their respective innings.
On a cloudy day with odd spits of rain in the air, the weather was completely different to what we have been used to recently. Raine (Finchale End) conceded one run plus a leg bye off the opening over. Munsey (1) got a leading edge to Potts' first delivery and keeper Ollie Robinson took the catch running to the offside (2 for 1). Clarke hit Potts to the mid-wicket ropes, 7 off the 2nd over. Clarke hit Parkinson for three successive fours through extra cover. Then next ball he hit Parkinson for a straight six, 19 off the over. Haynes hit Potts for a straight six, 10 plus a leg bye off the 4th over. Aldridge went for three plus a leg bye in the 5th over. Haynes pulled a short ball for six over cow corner then rode his luck inside edging a boundary passed his stumps. Notts 57 for 1 off 6 overs.
Parkinson went for 6 in the 7th over. Clarke smashed Sowter for six over long on, 14 off the 8th over. Ackermann conceded seven off the 9th over. Haynes (37 off 25 balls, 2x4, 2x6) hit Aldridge for four through fine leg but perished next ball caught on the square leg ropes by Clark off Aldridge, 88 for 2. Clarke and Haynes had added 86 in 8.1 overs. Eight off the 10th over.
Clarke got to his 50 off 29 balls with a single off Parkinson, 5 off the 11th over. Moores hit Sowter for six over long off with Notts getting to three figures, 12 off the 12th over. Notts 109 for two could only gather 58 runs off the last 8 overs of their innings.
Notts lost two wickets in three balls in the 13th over and Notts innings lost momentum. Moores (12) hit a full toss from Parkinson with Sowter brilliantly catching the ball one handed and then being near the rope parrying the ball to Aldridge who took the catch (109 for 3). Two balls later, Clarke (56 off 35 balls, 4x4, 2x6) was stumped by Robinson off Parkinson (4 0 34 2; 110 for 4), his best T20 innings of the season. It was aptly timed following the Rare failure from his opening partner Munsey, Hilariously called Harry Munsey all afternoon by the Durham announcer. Four off the 13th over. Linde hit Ackermann (2 0 18 0) for four through fine leg then McCann chipped him for four through long leg, 11 off the 14th over. McCann (12) hoisted Sowter (3 0 31 1) for four towards extra cover but off the next ball was caught on the backward square leg ropes by Clark off Sowter (128 for 5), 5 off the 15th over.
Aldridge (3 0 20 1) went for nine off the 16th over. Howell hit Raine for a square leg four, seven off the 17th over. Howell hit a four through fine leg off Potts to bring up the 150, 12 off the 18th over. Raine (4 0 27 0) went for five plus a leg bye in the penultimate over. Notts lost three wickets off the last three balls of the innings. Linde (21 off 22 balls, 1x4), who struggled to time the ball throughout his innings, was caught at long off by Aldridge off Potts. Patterson-White was out for a golden duck missing an attempted scoop shot he tried to run a bye but was run out via a throw from keeper Robinson to bowler Potts (4 0 32 3). Howell was caught on the point ropes by Sowter for 23. Notts 166 for 8 off 20 overs. Stone 0 not out.
Amir (Finchale End) conceded three plus a leg bye off the opening over. Lees scooped a four to fine leg off Stone. A leg side delivery went for four off Clark's pads, 15 for 0 off 2 overs. Lees clubbed Ali for a mid-wicket four, 11 off the 3rd over. Lees hit Stone (2-0-18-0) for four through mid-on and Clark hit him for four through point, 11 off the 4th over. Clark hit Amir for four through mid-wicket and scooped a four behind the wicket. Twelve off the 5th over. Clark blasted a lofted straight four off Ali and then hit him for four through extra cover, nine off the over. Durham 58 for 0 off 6 overs.
Clark (34) was caught at backward point by Munsey off Linde, 64 for 1 off 7 overs. With the floodlights now on, McCann went for four in the 8th over. Lees on 28 should have been run out but was sent back attempting a leg bye off Linde, Moores missed a simple throw at the stumps and the batsmen ran for the overthrow, three plus a leg bye off the 9th over. McKinney hit McCann for a six over long on and a four through extra cover, 14 off the 10th over.
Lees hit Howell for a straight four and McKinney hit him for a six over mid-wicket, 12 off the 11th over. Howell's only over of the contest. Durham required 69 off 9 overs which 9 wickets left. The Notts spinners then applied the tourniquet.
Lees got a four through fine leg off McCann (3 0 24 0), six plus a leg bye off the 12th over. Lees (43 off 35 balls, 5x4) was bowled by Patterson-White (107 for 2). Bedingham should have been run out for 1 but Clarke missed the stumps following a wild throw from mid-on, four off the 13th over. McKinney (26) was caught on the mid-wicket ropes by Haynes off Linde, 113 for 3 after 14 overs. Fifty-four required off 6 overs. Raine (1) was caught on the deep square leg boundary low down by Linde off Patterson-White (116 for 4), 3 plus a leg bye off the 15th over. Linde (4 0 19 2) went for six off the 16th over
With Durham clearly struggling to force the pace against the slow men, Patterson-White (2-0-7-2) was strangely taken off and Amir returned. Robinson hit Amir for a lofted four through extra cover. Amir then bowled two successive wides. Robinson then edged him aerially for four, 17 off the 17th over. Twenty-seven required off three overs.
Robinson (17) was caught at short third man by Amir off Ali (143 for 5), five off the 18th over. Bedingham hit Amir for six over square leg. A short ball from Amir (4 0 42 1) was top edged by Ackermann (1) to Moores behind the stumps, 152 for 6. Fifteen required off 8 balls. Aldridge got a two and a single off the last two balls of Amir's over.
Ali (4 0 32 1) bowled the last over with 12 required. Aldridge ran a leg bye off the first ball. Bedingham ran a two towards long on off ball number two. Bedingham ran a bye off the next ball. Aldridge got a single, the ball dropping short of Moores low down to his right. Seven needed off 2 balls. Bedingham then ran a two. With five required off the last ball, Bedingham drove the ball to long off and could only run a two. Notts had pulled the rabbit out of the hat once more. They simply never gave up.
Durham 164 for 6 off 20 overs with Bedingham on 26 and Aldridge on 4. They had made a big mistake by bowling first with the wicket getting slower as the day went on.
Mohammad Ali now departs the club to go on international duty and will not return to Notts until the last two championship games. Huge credit goes to Paul Franks who recommending him to club – Ali appeared to have no other suitors. He leaves with 19 T20 wickets @16.21 at 7.73 RPO. Outstanding and big shoes to fill! MAG
Squad:
LPW bowls 2 over 2 for 7 and he gets taken off in favour of pace, with 17 going off the next Amir over ?
ReplyDeleteThe death overs were probably scripted and Freddie's 3 gave the skipper a degree flexibility. Cool heads won the day.
DeleteBrian
I was of a similar mind "Nigle", as was MAG in his report. I'd agree Brian the death overs are pre-planned apart from when Clarke mucks it up and we find a new hero as we did on Friday with Olly Stone. Mohammad Ali has been the standout death bowler for Outlaws, he will be missed.
Delete83 NOTOUT
ReplyDeleteNOTTS are on a winning roll and things are going their way . Notts must have been 20-1 to win the last two Blast games with half an hour to go ?
Both won from seemingly hopeless situations .
Great pity we are losing a high quality bowler but he has worked wonders for us in a short time