After a break of around seven weeks Notts Outlaws resume their Yorkshire Bank 40 campaign this weekend when they face Northants Steelbacks at Trent Bridge.

The Outlaws head qualifying group A, on 14 points, after seven wins from their opening eight fixtures.

Northants are their closest rivals in the group, having secured five wins and gained another point from a washed-out contest.

Each county had differing fortunes in midweek, with the Steelbacks progressing through to the t20 finals day, whilst the Outlaws crashed out of that competition.

Head to head
In all one-day matches (ranging from 40 overs to 60) the two counties have met on 62 previous occasions with Northants having had the better of things with 34 victories, to Notts’ 23. Two matches ended as No Results (having begun) and another three contests were washed out altogether.

In 1980 Northants won a John Player League match which was played at Worksop. The remaining 27 contests fought out on Nottinghamshire soil have all been played at Trent Bridge.

Notts, have won 12, most recently in 2008. Northants have won on 13 occasions in Nottingham but not since 2003, with the other 2 matches being rained off.

Last time
The most recent one-day clash at Trent Bridge was won by Notts after rain had reduced their target.

Northants made 189 for seven in their 50 overs in the 2008 Friends Provident Trophy group match, with Stephen Peters making 90 and South African Lance Klusener weighed in with an unbeaten 60.

Notts were given a revised Duckworth Lewis equation of scoring 143 in 30 overs and they got there with 2 overs to spare, with Adam Voges’ 42 not out being the leading hand in the 6-wicket (D/L) win.

Played for them both
A number of players, particularly in recent seasons, have turned out for both Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire. Among them are, Usman Afzaal, Nicky Boje, Mark Bowen, Jason Brown, Lance Klusener, Richard Logan, David Lucas, Wayne Noon, Ben Phillips, Bilal Shafayat, Graeme Swann, Riki Wessels and Graeme White.

Stats
Notts’ highest home score against Northnats came in a remarkable 60-overs per side Nat West Trophy game in 1995.

The visitors made 352 for eight, with Richard Montgomerie (109) and Andy Forham (132) putting on 232 for the first wicket.

Paul Pollard (96) and Tim Robinson (73) opened up with 180 but the run chase ran out of steam and Notts ended up with 314 for eight.

On home soil Stephen Fleming holds the record for the highest home score against the men from Wantage Road. He made an unbeaten 121 in 2006.

Other Nottinghamshire centurions have been Clive Rice (117 in1982), Darren Bicknell (115 in 2001) an Tim Robinson (106* in1990).

Apart from the exploits of Montgomerie and Fordham (mentioned above), Tim Roberts scored 131 in 2003 and Allan Lamb made 116 in 1987, for Northants in Nottingham.

The best figures by a Nottinghamshire bowler in a home match are Clive Rice’s four for 33 in a 1986 John Player Special League win.

Paul Taylor’s four for 41 in 1999 is the best by a Northants bowler at Trent Bridge.

History

Nottinghamshire’s first-ever competitive one-day match took place in May 1962 and saw them defeated by Northamptonshire at Trent Bridge. In a low scoring contest the visitors posted 168-9, with John Cotton taking 4-24.

In reply, Notts could only make 137 all out, with skipper Geoff Millman making 60, the only half-century of the clash. The two sides, along with Leicestershire and Derbyshire, were pioneering a Midlands Knock-Out competition, played over 65 overs and Northants went on to defeat Leicestershire in the final.

1987 saw the most famous meeting between the two counties, in the Final of the NatWest Trophy at Lord’s. In a contest which carried over from the Saturday, into a Monday morning finish, Richard Hadlee’s unbeaten 70 earned him, the man of the match award, and his side the spoils by 3-wickets.

 

Did You Know?

Even before he had made his first-class debut for Nottinghamshire, Kevin Pietersen gave a glimpse of his abilities by hitting 115 not out in a 2001 pre-season friendly at home to Northamptonshire. The new addition to the Trent Bridge staff shared in a swashbuckling unbroken stand of

294 for the fifth wicket with the vastly more experienced Paul Johnson, who powered his way to a typically brutal 168.

 

Milestones

Chris Read has scored 4,977 one-day runs and Alex Hales has hit 1,956. Steven Mullaney has taken 48 wickets in List-A matches.

 

Tickets

Tickets can be purchased etc etc

Coverage

If you aren’t able to attend the match then you can listen to BBC Radio Nottingham’s ball-by-ball commentary on-line, via the link on the BBC Sport website.