Birmingham Bears begin their defence of the NatWest T20 Blast with a tough visit to Nottinghamshire Outlaws - the team without whose input at a crucial stage they could not have won the competition last year.

The Bears lifted the 2014 trophy after memorable Finals Day victories over Surrey and Lancashire at Edgbaston. But they would not even have been involved in Finals Day without the Outlaws' intervention in the last round of North Group games.

Dougie Brown's men beat Leicestershire in their last match but had to depend on the Outlaws also defeating Yorkshire Vikings at Headingley. That looked a long shot when the home side piled up 200 - but the Outlaws sensationally chased it down and Birmingham's path to glory was laid.

"We have already thanked Notts!" said Bears director of cricket Dougie Brown.

"We kind of burgled our way through the group stage last year and that's something we need to address this time round. We need to be better in the group phase.

"We played some really good cricket at the back end of the tournament but they are tough groups to get out of and we have to make sure we don't make such heavy weather of it this season.

"It will be a tough start for us. Notts are a well-drilled t20 outfit but we went there last year and managed to win a game. We went there in both 20-over and 50-over cricket and had two great matches.

"We don't really mind who we are playing against. We just have to go out there and concentrate on what we are going and make sure we do it well."

Birmingham Bears made a spectacular pre-season swoop for New Zealand ace Brendon McCullum who will join them for seven t20s later in the summer but Brown insists that prospect has to be emphatically kept out of mind by his players for the next few weeks.

"If we play poor cricket before Brendon comes we will be out of the competition anyway," the director of cricket said. "He is a very good player who will add to what we have got but we won the competition last year without him so he is not coming in as a saviour.

"We have got a strategy that we adopt and we played it very well last year so I don't see us changing a great deal. It's just a case of individuals need to front up and do their jobs as best they can and as they did brilliantly towards the back end of last season's competition."

 

Notts Outlaws NatWest T20 Blast Fixtures & Ticket Information

v Birmingham Bears - Friday 15 May 6.30pm BUY TICKETS
v Yorkshire Vikings – Friday 22 May 6.30pm BUY TICKETS
v Durham Jets – Sunday 31 May 2.30pm BUY TICKETS
v Leicestershire Foxes – Friday 5 June 6.30pm BUY TICKETS
v Northamptonshire Steelbacks – Saturday 27 June 2.30pm BUY TICKETS
v Worcestershire Rapids – Friday 3 July 6.30pm BUY TICKETS
v Derbyshire Falcons – Friday 10 July 6.30pm BUY TICKETS

Season tickets include access to all seven group stage home fixtures and a rain guarantee.

Click here to secure your seat: Adults £77 / Over 65s £56 / Families £189 / Under 21s £36 / Under 16s £26

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