Background
Nottinghamshire host Northamptonshire this week in the LV= county championship, with the first of four days beginning at Trent Bridge on Sunday (11am).
The visitors are adjusting to life back in the top flight after their promotion from Division Two and are still awaiting their first success of the new campaign, having drawn with Durham before losing to Yorkshire and Lancashire.
Having picked up just 16 points so far they sit at the foot of the Division One table but have only played three matches.
Notts’ draw with Somerset, earlier this week, took them to 40 points from 4 games and sixth spot in the standings.
Head to head
Overall, home and away, there have been 132 first class matches between Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire, with the head-to-head favouring Notts 51-25, with 56 draws.
Nottinghamshire have hosted the Wantage Road side on 65 previous occasions. Four of the matches were staged at Worksop and one apiece at Newark and Cleethorpes.
The remaining 59 were all played at the county headquarters at Trent Bridge. Notts have tasted victory on 29 occasions, most recently in 2007, the last staging of the fixture.
Northants have won 5 matches in Nottingham – but none since 1983 – and the remaining 28 games were drawn.
Last Meeting
Notts and Northants haven’t met in the county championship since 2007, when they were both in Division Two. The Trent Bridge match that year took place in late August and resulted in a narrow 2-wicket victory for the home team.
Northants won the toss, batted and made 285, with Rob White making 71 and Andrew Crook 70. The innings floundered due to an inspirational performance from Mark Davies, playing his first match for Notts. The seamer, on-loan from Durham, claimed figures of 7-59 (and 8-90 in what turned out to be his only match for the county).
Notts replied with 283, a deficit of 2 before bowling the visitors out for a second time, for 229. Chasing 232 to win, Notts were struggling on 197-8 but Graeme Swann (17 not out) and Andre Adams (20 not out) saw them over the line.
History
Harold Larwood, one of the finest fast bowlers to represent Nottinghamshire and England, had particular reason to remember this fixture. Ninety years ago, in 1914, he made his first class debut against Northants at Trent Bridge – and after a career which brought him 1,427 wickets he bowed out of the game in the 1938 match against the same opposition, also in Nottingham.
Played For Them Both
Phil Jaques, who scored his maiden century for Nottinghamshire last week, spent the 2003 season with Northants. In 16 matches, he scored 1,409 first class runs at an average of 58.70, scoring 5 centuries.
Maurice Chambers, expected to be in the Northants squad for this match, made one appearance for Notts Seconds last season, in between matches for Essex and Warwickshire.
A number of other players, particularly in recent seasons, have turned out for both Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire. Among them are, Usman Afzaal, Nicky Boje, Mark Bowen, Jason Brown (pictured), Lance Klusener, Richard Logan, David Lucas, Wayne Noon, Ben Phillips, Bilal Shafayat, Graeme Swann, Riki Wessels and Graeme White.
Stats
Highest Team Totals at Trent Bridge
Notts – 547-6 (1951)
Northants – 601-9dec (1996)
Lowest Team Totals at Trent Bridge
Notts – 78 (1909)
Northants – 38 (1920)
Highest Individual Innings at Trent Bridge
Notts – 248 WW Whysall (1930), 247 J Hardstaff jnr (1951)
Northants – 207* L Livingston (1954)
Century in each innings at Trent Bridge
Notts – 100* & 114* J Hardstaff jnr (1949), 147 & 101 JB Bolus (1969), 133* & 132 MJ Harris (1969)
Best Innings Bowling at Trent Bridge
Notts – 9-50 FC Matthews (1923)
Northants – 8-53 GE Tribe (1959)
Best Match bowling at Trent Bridge
Notts – 17-89 FC Matthews (1923)
Northants – 11-119 GE Tribe (1952 – on county championship debut)
Seven Wickets in Each Innings at Trent Bridge
Notts - 7-23 & 7-20 & W Voce (1929)
Hat-tricks at Trent Bridge
Notts – EE Hemmings (1984)
Northants – RJ Patrick (1946) , MR Dilley (1961)
Most Catches in a Match at Trent Bridge
Notts – 6 NW Hill (1958) & SP Fleming (2007)
Largest Margin of Victory at Trent Bridge
Notts – Innings and 132 runs (1987)
Notts – 10 wickets (1908)
Northants – Innings and 85 runs (1965)
10 wickets (1952)
First Class Debut at Trent Bridge
Notts – H Larwood (1924), JD Springall (1955), MJ Smedley (1964), WA Dessaur (1992),
Northants – J James (1906), FI Walden (1910), RG Ripley (1922), WJ Ball (1924), TGH Smith (1931)
County Championship Debut at Trent Bridge
Notts –NB Whittingham (1963), DR Doshi (1977), LNP Walker (1996),
Northants – GE Tribe (1952), FH Tyson (1953), MEJC Norman (1956), JPC Mills (1980), A Fordham (1986), RJ Logan (2000)
Did You Know?
Wayne Noon, who played for Northants between 1989 and 1992, is the only Nottinghamshire wicketkeeper to ever take seven catches in an innings. Noon, the current first team coach at Trent Bridge, achieved his feat in the home match against Kent in 1999.
Milestones
Phil Jaques has scored 15,490 first class runs and Steven Mullaney has scored 2,965 runs.
Samit Patel has scored 6947 first class runs for Nottinghamshire and is 45th on the list of leading run scorers for the county. 44th in the standings is Garfield Sobers, who scored 7,041. Patel has now taken 191 first class wickets.
Luke Fletcher has scored 985 first class runs and has taken 95 wickets at Trent Bridge.
Tickets
Tickets may be purchased from the gate at a cost of £14 for Adults, £10 for Senior Citizens and Under 21s and £7 for Juniors.
Coverage
BBC Radio Nottingham will be providing ball-by-ball on-line commentary, via the BBC Sport website.