Notts Director of Cricket Mick Newell has set his sights on automatic qualification for the knockout stages of the Twenty20 Cup, even though his side will need to beat Lancashire Lightning and Yorkshire Carnegie to be assured of a top two finish in the Northern Division.

The Outlaws face Andrew Flintoff’s Lancashire at Old Trafford this evening (play commences at 5:30pm), knowing that the England all-rounder has been passed fit to bowl for his side.

The draw for the quarter-finals will be made on Friday after Notts face Yorkshire at Trent Bridge and it is likely that the third-placed team in the group will also be in the hat.

“I think three teams will qualify from our group but we don’t want to rely on other teams doing us favours because a lot can change in a short space of time and we have to target automatic qualification,” said Newell.

“Lancashire batted very well at Trent Bridge and out aim will be to take early wickets and put them under pressure and look to our top order to bat to a high standard with from decent partnerships between one and six.

“There’ll be no hang-over from yesterday’s loss at Leicestershire because everyone is focussed on bouncing back at the first attempt.”

Adam Voges, the Outlaws standout batsman in the competition so far, is expected to open alongside Will Jefferson and Newell will make a late call on whether to include Mark Wagh who has travelled as part of a 14-man squad for the first time in the competition this season.

Notts Outlaws squad to face Lancashire Lightning (from): Will Jefferson, Adam Voges, Samit Patel, Bilal Shafayat, Chris Read, Mark Ealham, Paul Franks, Gareth Clough, Rob Ferley, Darren Pattinson, Charlie Shreck, Mark Wagh, Chris Cairns, Andre Adams