Mick Newell is urging Nottinghamshire cricket followers to head for Trent Bridge on Sunday and back the Outlaws in their key Friends Provident Trophy clash against Warwickshire Bears.

The Bears currently top the North Conference with maximum points from their three matches but Newell’s men are full of confidence after their outstanding start to the season.

And the Director of Cricket is optimistic that the trend for bigger one-day attendances at Trent Bridge will be maintained - and help the Outlaws stay on course for a Lord’s Cup Final appearance for the first time in 18 years.

Almost 10,000 people have watched the first three home fixtures of the summer and Newell said: “Maybe it would be wrong to say that the crowds inspired us to our Championship successes against Leicestershire and Glamorgan, but they certainly helped.

“The players loved it last year when they played in front of big crowds in the Twenty20 matches and hopefully, if we can get ourselves into a good position in the Trophy, we’ll see them coming back in numbers again.

“The game against Warwickshire is going to be a very important one and a big crowd could make all the difference. If we could get 5,000 people into Trent Bridge then the atmosphere would be tremendous.

“We have a chance to take on a good side who are playing well at the moment and show that we can beat anyone in one-day cricket.

“They will be full of confidence but so are we - and it should be a good game because of it. With the likes of Mark Wagh, David Hussey and Mark Ealham all in form, we’ve got the players to come out on top.”

The game at Trent Bridge starts at 10.45am, with tickets costing £13 for adults, £7 for concessions and £33 for a family of two adults and two children.

And as part of a special ‘Family Day’ at the ground, Notts are laying on plenty of entertainment, including a bouncy castle, crèche, face painter, visitors from the White Post Animal Farm Centre and supervised cricket coaching in the Woodhead Hall.