Nottinghamshire Endure Tough Start To 2024 Blast
Nottinghamshire suffered a tough start to the T20 Blast after sliding to defeat in their opening two fixtures.
The Vertu Motors-backed side kicked things off with a home tie against Northamptonshire and despite losing Alex Hales in the second over, things were going well as Joe Clarke and Jack Haynes kept the runs ticking over to pass the 100 mark at the half-way stage of the innings.
However, when Clarke was dismissed for 48 at the start of the eleventh over, it triggered a dramatic batting collapse as the final nine wickets tumbled for 50 runs – with George Scrimshaw taking impressive figures of 3-12 from three overs.
Northants were able to knock off the runs with ease thanks in no small part to a fine innings from captain David Willey, who smashed 79 from 34 balls – including no fewer than seven sixes.
Matthew Breetzke also passed 50 as the visitors took the win by eight wickets, with Nottinghamshire then hitting the road to take on Birmingham Bears in the second game.
In front of a bumper crowd of more than 13,000 people, the Bears were restricted to 149 all out having chosen to bat first, with Rob Yates hitting 68 as the main man with the bat as no-one else was able to make it beyond 16.
Olly Stone was pick of the bowlers with 3-30, although Luke Fletcher would only go for 19 runs from his four overs and also picked up two wickets – one of which was Yates.
Joe Clarke and Alex Hales hit 50 in the first five overs when Nottinghamshire went in to bat and the visitors looked to be in command until the pair departed in consecutive overs.
From that point on, wickets would fall regularly with Matthew Montgomery the only one to put up real resistance with 33 from 31 balls.
When Yates caught Ben Lister off the bowling of Dan Mousley – who took 3-22 – it saw Notts dismissed for 127 to fall to defeat by 22 runs and sit with a record of two losses from two going into game three against Worcestershire.
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