Notts Outlaws face Durham Jets in the NatWest T20 Blast campaign at Trent Bridge on Sunday in the third of four consecutive home fixtures that the Outlaws will play at the start of their campaign, having already secured a win over the Birmingham Bears before last Friday’s loss to the Yorkshire Vikings.

Durham, who now call themselves the Jets having been Durham Dynamos for the first eleven years of the domestic competition, began their campaign with two wins before losing to Leicestershire Foxes at Grace Road yesterday.

With Alex Hales returning from India, after linking up with the Mumbai Indians for the closing stages of the Indian Premier League, and West Indian international Darren Sammy in line for his Outlaws’ debut, this is one of the most eagerly-anticipated fixtures at Trent Bridge for some time.

Head-To-Head

This will be the 20th occasion in which Notts Outlaws and Durham Jets have faced each other in T20 cricket, although three of the matches were abandoned without a ball being bowled.

Of the completed contests, Notts have recorded nine victories and Durham have won seven times. At Trent Bridge the head-to-head sits in favour of the Outlaws, who have won six times and lost three.

Last Time

Last season’s Trent Bridge match was played almost exactly one year ago, on May 30 2014. The similarity doesn’t end there, it was also the Outlaws’ third match of the T20 Blast competition, having won one and lost one of their first two outings.

The match was an absolute thriller, going right down to the final ball – but the Outlaws were left with a feeling of what might have been, having got themselves into a strong position with the ball before falling agonisingly short.

Needing 133 to win, the Outlaws needed four from the final ball of the match but a fine running catch from Ben Stokes halted Sam Wood’s bid for success, giving the north east county the two points.

Durham batted first, after being put in by James Taylor – and they struggled to break the shackles as Steven Mullaney returned figures of four for 25.

He entered the attack in the eighth over and struck straight away with Paul Collingwood chipping tamely straight back to the bowler.

Phil Mustard hit a six into the New Stand but perished trying a repeat, with Michael Lumb taking the boundary catch, Stokes pulled straight to Alex Hales and Ryan Pringle was lbw first ball.

Andy Carter had already swung the momentum towards the home side, removing Mark Stoneman and Calum MacLeod in an impressive start, before returning to york Usman Arshad to close with three for 31.

Luke Fletcher took the other wicket to fall but Gordon Muchall’s unbeaten 31 lifted the Jets to some respectability at 132 for eight.

The expected fast start for the home side didn’t materialise as Hales, Lumb and Taylor all fell for single figure scores.

Samit Patel and Riki Wessels added 27 to spark a recovery, before they were parted by the off-spin of Gareth Breese, who induced Patel to hit out to Mark Wood at midwicket.

Chris Read batted with typical intensity, taking 15 from Breese’s following over, whacking two powerful sixes along the way.

Arshad stepped in with the breakthrough, just as the Jets were looking in need of some inspiration, as Read played away from his body and nicked through to Mustard for 23.

Thirteen runs came from the 17th over, as Mullaney hit Arshad for 4-2-4 from the first three deliveries.

Wessels then lost his middle stump to Stokes for 26, trying to find a much-needed boundary, leaving a further 26 required from 15 balls.

The equation had come down to 15 from seven – but a mighty six from Sam Wood, off Arshad, swung the contest back towards Notts.

Chris Rushworth emerged as the Jets hero, bowling a challenging last over. Mullaney – who completed a fine individual match by making an undefeated 26 – scored a couple of two’s and then forced a single from the fifth delivery.

It left Sam Wood requiring a boundary to win the match but his heroic heave for glory fell into the hands of Stokes, fielding just in front of the dug-outs at long on.

History

On the very first day of T20 cricket in this country the opening match of the new tournament featured Durham at home to Notts.

The game was played at Chester-le-Street on June 13 2003 and it was Durham who emerged victorious, with a six-wicket triumph.

Jason Gallian skippered the Outlaws and led the charge with an innings of 62 as his side posted 157 for seven. Opener Nicky Peng led the response with an innings of 49, as the home county cantered to their target with five balls to spare.

In the 2005 match in the north east Nottinghamshire’s Mark Ealham took 34 from one over, bowled by Neil Killeen, hitting 6-4-6-6-6-6.

In the 2013 match at the Riverside Michael Lumb scored 96, the highest individual score recorded by an Outlaws batsman in T20 cricket.

Played For Them Both

Nottinghamshire’s Will Gidman will be hoping to line up against his first county, after making his Outlaws T20 debut in last week’s match against Yorkshire Vikings. The all-rounder made only one first-class appearance for Durham but featured in 16 one-day matches for them between 2008 and 2010.

The 30-year old then spent four seasons with Gloucestershire before his winter move to Trent Bridge.

Six other cricketers have played in first-class matches for both Nottinghamshire and Durham. The first to do so was wicketkeeper Chris Scott, who played 63 times for Notts between 1981 and 1991, then moved north to join Durham for their debut season in the County Championship.

Others to have represented the two counties include: Mark Saxelby, Nathan Astle, John Morris, Will Smith and Mark Davies.

Stats

(for Notts v Durham in T20)

Highest Team Total

Notts 213-4 (Trent Bridge 2011)

Durham 187-8 (Chester-le-Street 2011)

Lowest Team Total

Notts 129-7 (Trent Bridge 2013)

Durham 120ao (19.4) (Trent Bridge 2004)

Highest Individual Innings

Notts 96 MJ Lumb (Chester-le-Street 2012)

Durham 75 P Mustard (Chester-le-Street 2011)

Best Bowling

Notts 4-25 SJ Mullaney (Trent Bridge 2014)

Durham 5-26 ME Claydon (Chester-le-Street 2009)

Milestones

Alex Hales (70) needs one more appearance to go past David Hussey (70) into third place on the Outlaws all-time list (Patel 113, Read 106).

Alex Hales (3437) needs 63 runs for 3500 in T20 cricket.

Alex Hales (49) needs one more catch for 50 in T20 cricket.

Riki Wessels – (1145 runs) needs 49 runs to go past Adam Voges (1193) into fifth place on the Outlaws all-time T20 run-scorers list.

Riki Wessels (46) needs one more T20 appearance for the Outlaws to go past the number (46) he recorded for his previous county, Northants.

Steven Mullaney (565 runs) needs six runs to go past Stephen Fleming (570) into tenth place on the Outlaws all-time run-scorers list in T20.

Steven Mullaney (49) needs only one more wicket for 50 in T20 cricket (48 for Notts and one for Lancashire (the wicket of Paul Franks v Notts in 2009).

Steven Mullaney (48) needs two more wickets to become only the third bowler to take 50 T20 wickets for the Outlaws (Patel 101, Pattinson 64).

Brendan Taylor (2438) needs 62 runs for 2500 in T20 cricket.

Coverage

BBC Radio Nottingham will be providing ball-by-ball commentary for this match, both on FM frequencies and on-line, via the BBC Sport website. 

For text updates, ball-by-ball scorecard, visit Trent Bridge Live.

 

Notts Outlaws NatWest T20 Blast Fixtures & Ticket Information

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

Need more information? Call our ticket office on 0844 8118711.