Notts began their 2007 Twenty20 Cupcampaign in style with a comfortable victory over Derbyshire thanks to fourwickets from Gareth Clough and an unbeaten half-century from Samit Patel.
Derbyshire 148 (Clough 4-24, Ealham 3-37)
Notts 149-4 (Patel 55*, Jefferson 31)
Notts won by six wickets
Scorecard
Despite heavy rain throughout the EastMidlands during the day, the floodlit match started on time with the hostschoosing to bat after winning the toss.
And although the Outlaws were initiallyslow to get into their stride, the medium pace of Clough and Mark Ealham provedthe undoing of the Derbyshire batting.
Ealham removed openers James Pipe andMichael Dighton in quick succession and while Australian duo Travis Birt andSimon Katich briefly threatened, both gave catches to David Hussey.
Clough then stepped up to claim threewickets in his final over before Ealham returned to wrap up the Derbyshireinnings.
That left Notts chasing just 149 to win andalthough Stephen Fleming and David Hussey fell in the space of three balls,Patel was unmoved and saw the job through.
The 22-year-old hit three fours and threesixes in his 45-ball innings, while Will Jefferson added two more maximums andthree boundaries with 31 from 19 balls.
Chris Read then joined Patel to finish thegame off with 10 balls to spare.