Nottinghamshire Sign Off With Victory
Nottinghamshire ended the group stage of the Vitality Blast with a hard-fought victory, although it was a case of too little, too late as their run in the competition came to an end.
Already consigned to an early exit from the competition, the Vertu Motors-backed side headed for Old Trafford to take on a Lancashire side bidding to reach the quarter-final stage and were put in to bat first by the home side.
Things didn’t start well when Joe Clarke fell in the first over and it was a sign of things to come as Notts struggled to get going – managing just 31 from the powerplay and losing four wickets as Jack Haynes, Ben Martindale and Matthew Montgomery all fell cheaply.
Tom Moores and Lyndon James helped to move the score towards respectability with a partnership of 53 before Moores departed for 26, with James going on to reach 51 before being the final man out as Nottinghamshire reached a total of 131-7 from their 20 overs.
Although Notts were able to dismiss Luke Wells in the second over when he was caught off the bowling of Fazalhaq Farooqi, Lancashire were quickly in control of the chase and were comfortably ahead of the required run rate by the end of the powerplay – at which stage just 73 were needed from 84 balls.
Phil Salt and Liam Livingstone shared a partnership of 112 before Salt was dismissed for 70 but Lancashire needed just eleven more runs from that point before a straightforward win by eight wickets was secured.
The final game of the group stage saw Nottinghamshire head for Headingley to take on Yorkshire, with the home side electing to bowl first after winning the toss.
Yorkshire made a solid start when Joe Clarke was bowled by Ben Cliff in the second over and Notts progressed to 53-1 by the end of the powerplay – helped by 21 off Jordan Thompson’s first over of the innings. Freddie McCann and Sammy King ultimately shared a stand of 87 for the second wicket before King was caught of the bowling of Thompson for 44.
Sitting on 96-2 at the half-way stage of the innings, Nottinghamshire continued to rack up the runs, with McCann progressing to 48 before he was dismissed - and Jack Haynes smashed a quick-fire half-century from 21 balls before he went with the score on 177-4.
Although wickets tumbled in the final five overs – including three for Cliff in the 20th – Notts were able to reach 209-9 by the close of the innings to leave Yorkshire with a tricky run chase to take the required victory.
The chase didn’t start in the best of fashions, with Yorkshire three down by the end of the powerplay as Adam Lyth, Will Luxton and Shan Masood all failed with the bat.
Despite then losing George Hill, Yorkshire remained in contention at the half-way stage with 122 required from 60 balls but the Notts bowlers turned the screw in the second half of the innings despite the best efforts of James Wharton and Thompson – both of whom reached half centuries.
Yorkshire would ultimately reach 181-6 by the end of their innings to leave Nottinghamshire victorious by 28 runs although neither team would progress to the next stage.
In the second Test for England, Nottinghamshire’s Ben Duckett impressed with the bat, scoring 71 and 76 in the two innings as the home side won at Trent Bridge by 241 runs with a day to spare.
Looking for a new car in Nottingham?