Notts Outlaws won on their return to T20 Blast action at Trent Bridge on Friday (May 27) night against Worcestershire Rapids. The Outlaws won the toss and put the Rapids in to bat, who scored 162/9 off their 20 overs, with Colin Munro top scoring with 66 for the visitors as Luke Fletcher picked up T20 career best bowling figures of 5/32 and was named player of the match.
The Outlaws started strongly in reply, with a 50 partnership coming up for the second wicket and Joe Clarke top scoring with 52 off 34 balls. Despite Worcestershire picking up wickets as the innings went on, it wasn't enough to stop Notts Outlaws from chalking up their first win of the T20 season in their first game with two balls to spare.
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Outlaws captain Dan Christian won the toss and put the Rapids in to bat. Spinner Matt Carter opened the bowling and kept it tight in the opening over of the campaign for Notts, before Ed Pollock targeted Luke Fletcher in the second, scoring 16 off the first three balls of the over.
But Pollock then hit a full toss straight to Alex Hales at mid-on to depart for 19. Brett D'Oliveira (7) followed cheaply, and Jack Haynes was dropped on 14 in the sixth.
Haynes (15) did not last too much longer though, edging behind to Tom Moores at the end of the same over as Jake Ball picked up the 100th T20 wicket of his career. Colin Munro and former Outlaw Jake Libby kept rotating the strike with the occasional boundary to frustrate the Outlaws.
Rapids were 86/3 off 10 overs at the halfway stage of their innings. The 100 came up for the Rapids after 11.3 overs, but Libby (15) top edged off Dan Christian shortly after.
Munro (66) brought up his half-century off 33 balls, and started to accelerate the run rate from the 14th. He survived a missed stumping on 66 in the 16th, but top edged off Luke Fletcher to Samit Patel, who took a fine leaping catch, for the same score an over later.
Outlaws finished strongly, dismissing Ben Cox (20), Matthew Waite (2), Josh Baker (5) and Ed Barnard (5) quickly to slow the run rate. Worcestershire ended up on 162/9 after their 20 overs, with Luke Fletcher picking up T20 career best bowling figures of 5/32.
Joe Clarke and Alex Hales opened in response for the Outlaws, with Hales going cheaply (2) in the second over. Joe Clarke and Ben Duckett put on 54 for the second wicket partnership off 27 balls, which came to an end as the latter departed for 29 in the sixth over, top edging off Charlie Morris.
Samit Patel (4) tried to hit Brett D'Oliveira down the ground in the eighth, but picked out long-on. The Outlaws reached the halfway stage at 91/3, with Tom Moores edging the ball high into the Nottinghamshire sky a delivery later, to then be dropped on 9 off Baker.
Clarke brought up his 50 off 28 balls later in the same over, and Moores started to hit his stride, hitting consecutive boundaries in the 12th off Barnard before reverse sweeping D'Oliveira for four in the 13th. But Clarke was to fall for 52 later that over, top edging to Munro.
D'Oliveira bowled his final over in the 15th, and was the pick of the bowlers for Worcestershire with figures of 2/24, but it could have been even better as Moores was dropped again, this time in the deep on 28.
Moores was eventually caught on his third strike, top edging off Waite to wicketkeeper Cox at the start of the 19th, scoring 47 off 31. Captain Steven Mullaney (0) came in and tried to get the job done quickly, with the Outlaws in sight of the finish, but was caught second ball.
The Outlaws required two to win off the final over, and won by four wickets after Dan Christian (23*) and Calvin Harrison (8*) got Notts over the line with two balls to spare. Notts are next in action at Trent Bridge on Monday (May 30) against Northamptonshire Steelbacks.
Notts Outlaws: Joe Clarke, Alex Hales, Ben Duckett, Samit Patel, Tom Moores (wk), Dan Christian (c), Steven Mullaney, Calvin Harrison, Matt Carter, Luke Fletcher, Jake Ball
Worcestershire Rapids: Brett D'Oliveira, Ed Pollock, Jack Haynes, Colin Munro, Jake Libby, Ben Cox (c/wk), Ed Barnard, Matthew Waite, Josh Baker, Dillon Pennington, Charlie Morris
