Notts Outlaws have been drawn away at Durham for their semi-final in the Royal London One-Day Cup.
The Outlaws have already faced their opponents in this competition, a fine Ben Stokes innings sealing victory for the hosts, but batsman Riki Wessels is aiming to be celebrating at Lord’s by the end of September.
“Finishing the season with a one-day win at Lord’s has always been the pinnacle of county cricket,” he said.
“We’re still 100 overs away from that, and this semi-final is a huge game for us.
“It’s a big game, as every semi-final is. Durham have played good white ball cricket this summer, and every team in the semis has come from our group.
“We’ll know them and have prepared to play them before so it gives us a good chance to push on and get to Lord’s.”
Notts and Durham will face off at 10:30am on Saturday 6 August, two days after Kent and Warwickshire meet in their semi-final. Despite being without Alex Hales and Harry Gurney, who are on England duty, Wessels insisted that the Outlaws would have enough to see them reach the final.
“Warwickshire have been playing some very good cricket and will always back themselves to win,” he said.
“We’ve got some great players here. James Taylor getting near enough 150 not out in the quarter-final and Samit with another 50 and wickets. There’s a lot of quality.
“We don’t rely massively on the two missing players, it’s nice to have them in the side to put a little more fear into the opposition but the side we have, we’ll back ourselves to win.”
Through a series of dominant performances, the Outlaws have maintained their standing as one of the best white-ball sides in the country. Despite falling to defeat in their home T20 quarter-final earlier this summer, Wessels feels that Notts’ quality throughout the order has begun to show over 50 overs.
“I have always believed that T20 cricket comes down to one good performance on either side,” he said.
“In the last game it was James Vince for Hampshire. In a 50-over game you have to be a bit more consistent over a longer period in a game, and we’ve performed a lot more consistently this year and last year in the 40-over competition.”