Notts Outlaws will be looking to return to winning ways as they continue their Royal London One-Day Cup campaign with a visit to Middlesex at Lord’s.
The Outlaws suffered their first loss in the tournament at Durham, but will be boosted by the return of Alex Hales and James Taylor to the matchday squad, following a run of fixtures with the England Lions.
“I’m pleased to have them back into the team,” said Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire’s Director of Cricket.
“It has been difficult three games without them but they’re back from important matches and have scored well.
“They should be feeling confident, they’ve both made hundreds in the last week or so but these are important matches for us and for us to qualify we’ll need to win these games and Its important that they put in a good performance.”
After suffering defeat at Chester-le-Street, the Outlaws dropped out of the qualification places for the knockout stages of the Royal London One-Day Cup.
It is the first time in the tournament’s duration that Notts have found themselves out of the top four, and with Middlesex lying in wait, Newell is hoping it will provide them with the impetus to push forward and reclaim their position.
“Tomorrow is a massive game now, partly because of not playing and partly from the loss at Durham but we have found ourselves in a challenging position,” he said.
“The group is going to go down to the last round of matches, there’s no doubt about that. It makes these matches exciting, but we need to make sure we’re in the top four by the end of it.
“The players know the importance of this game. The loss yesterday hopefully gives us a little kick, or wake up, and maybe we needed it.
“In Chris Rogers and Eoin Morgan they have two very high quality players, a good bowling attack and it’s the last chance for them they know that if they lose, they’re out. It’ll be a very important game for both sides.”
Notts Outlaws squad to face Middlesex (from): Alex Hales, Michael Lumb, James Taylor, Samit Patel, Riki Wessels, James Franklin, Chris Read, Steven Mullaney, Sam Wood, Ajmal Shahzad, Jake Ball, Luke Fletcher, Harry Gurney