Notts Outlaws became the new holders of the Barbados T20 Cup when they overcame Derbyshire Falcons by 7 wickets in the final at Kensington Oval on Sunday.
Chasing a modest 114-6, the Outlaws were always on course for a comfortable victory, well inside the distance – and they romped home with 6.3 overs to spare.
Notts' last white-ball success was the Emirates Airline T20, won in Dubai in 2011, a tournament that Mick Newell missed. He was therefore especially proud of his side.
"We have Samit Patel and David Hussey to come into our t20 side as well and we’ll need lots of different players over the ten qualifying matches but certainly Sam Wood has shown what he can do here.”
“It’s nice to win any competition that you enter and over the course of two days we played some decent cricket so I’m pleased with lots of things that we’ve managed to achieve," he said.
“Sam Wood and Graeme White have had a couple of excellent days, in conditions suited to spin bowling. Steven Mullaney’s chipped in with the bat but over the course of the two days everybody’s contributed.
“We haven’t given a lot of runs away in any of the three matches, the wickets have been conducive to spin but we have also batted nicely when up against quicker bowling.
"We have Samit Patel and David Hussey to come into our t20 side as well and we’ll need lots of different players over the ten qualifying matches but certainly Sam Wood has shown what he can do here.”
Notts made one change from their semi final line-up, with Andy Carter returning in place of Jake Ball. The side was therefore: Lumb, Hales, Wessels, Taylor, Mullaney, Read, Wood, White, Shahzad, Carter and Gurney.
The two spinners had both enjoyed impressive tournaments and on the same worn pitch that had been used for this week’s West Indies v Zimbabwe Test it was inevitable that they would have a key role to play.
In just the second over Notts made their initial breakthrough as Billy Godleman (5) fatally decided to take on Graeme White’s arm and attempt a second run. Chris Read had ample time with the batsman well short of his ground.
Chesney Hughes (4) lost his leg stump to Gurney in the third over, leaving Ben Slater and Ross Whiteley with some recovery work needed.
They moved the total to 42-3 at which point Slater charged Wood and was stumped for 16. The off-spinner had begun with a wicket-maiden, after starting with a double-wicket maiden earlier in the day.
Steven Mullaney, who enjoyed such a good semi final, clean-bowled Whiteley (16) in his first over and White sent back Poynton, aided by another excellent stumping from the captain.
The left-armer then had an lbw decision go in his favour, as Burgoyne fell for a duck with the innings in tatters at 57-6.
Richard Johnson and Tony Palladino steadied the boat with a useful, if unspectacular stand and doubled the total to 114-6 by the end of the twentieth.
Alex Hales and Michael Lumb began the reply at around 9.20pm local time and eased their way to 54-0 after the six power-play overs. 18 of them came from Mark Footitt’s first over which was concluded with Hales pulling a six into the Greenidge & Haynes Stand.
It looked as if the pair would canter to victory without any help from their team-mates until Hales fell at the start of the ninth over.
The PA system had been blaring out music all day at every four, six, wicket and change of ends. It was still playing a Bob Marley song at full blast when Peter Burgoyne ran in and bowled to Hales (33) who hit powerfully straight to midwicket.
Lumb (35) soon followed, finding Godleman in the deep, off Hughes as the halfway stage was reached with 81-2 on the board.
Rather than nudge and nurdle their way to the target, the new T20 champions finished with a flourish. James Taylor (32) hit three huge sixes in quick succession but fell close to the finishing line, only for Steven Mullaney to seal the win in symbolic fashion – bringing victory for the Outlaws in Barbados by launching the ball into the Sir Garfield Sobers pavilion.
Notts will receive their award at a special presentation ceremony to be held on Thursday evening.