Notts Outlaws' reward for topping group B in this season’s 50-over competition is an opportunity to turn the tables on the team that knocked them out of last year’s tournament at the semi-final stage, Durham.
The men from the North East went on to win the showpiece final at Lord’s following their 83-run semi-final victory over Notts at Chester-le-Street.
Warwickshire were the beaten party at the home of cricket last September with off-spinner Gareth Breese taking three wickets in his farewell appearance before retirement, to restrict the West Midlands county to 165 all out.
The Bears were aiming for a white ball double having already triumphed in the NatWest T20 Blast, and they made a fist of defending their paltry total by reducing the opposition to 130-7 with 36 more runs still required.
Ben Stokes scored an unbeaten 38 to guide Durham home by three wickets, and the all-rounder has gone on to become a star performer for England in both the red and white ball arenas during the successful summer of 2015.
A year on, the 24-year-old hasn't featured for his county throughout the tournament due to international commitments, and their passage to the last eight has been anything but smooth.
Victory over the Derbyshire Falcons on Monday secured Mark Stoneman’s side an opportunity to defend their crown in this year’s knockout stages, while the Outlaws had their place in the last eight secure with three matches still to play.
Durham began their campaign at Wantage Road, Northampton, where Paul Collingwood rolled back the years with a 97-ball 132 in a 54-run victory for the visitors.
Homegrown paceman Chris Rushworth and Australia international John Hastings, a fast-medium duo that will doubtless be a handful for the Outlaws’ batsmen shoud the surface offer any assistance, each took four wickets.
A trip to Somerset second time out proved to be equally straightforward for Durham, this time chasing 328 to win thanks to a captain’s century from Stoneman, 98 to Phil Mustard and 66 off 47 balls from the leg-spinning all-rounder that featured in the Ashes down under two winters ago, Scott Borthwick.
Collingwood, batting at number five, was therefore only required to score an unbeaten 22, albeit fulfilling his role as the finisher to perfection.
The winning run looked set to continue at Chester-le-Street as a travelling Surrey line-up containing Jason Roy, Steven Davies and Kumar Sangakkara was restricted to 271-7 from their 50 overs, little more than par in the modern day game.
No Durham batsman, however, passed 35 in a 49-run defeat against the eventual Group A winners.
The batsmen faired no better against Yorkshire two days later, Gordon Muchall top-scoring with 35 not out as Durham closed on 224-7 from 43 overs en route to a duckworth/lewis defeat against the reigning champions of the four day game.
The obligatory Michael Klinger century helped consign Durham to a 71-run defeat versus Gloucestershire, again courtesy of duckworth/lewis; a third successive defeat for the holders whose qualification for the knockout stages was now in some jeopardy.
Borthwick took 3-26 to underline the value of a leg-spinner in one-day cricket, something not lost on Notts who benefited from the expertise of Imran Tahir for much of the group stages, while Hastings underlined his ability to play brutal cameos with the bat, hitting three sixes in his 46 off 41 deliveries.
With matches against Leicestershire and Derbyshire to come, Durham had no margin for error as only back-to-back wins would do for a place in the quarter-finals.
Borthwick stepped up in the nick of time with bat and ball at Grace Road, adding the wickets of Lewis Hill, Niall O’Brien, Rob Taylor, Liam Hurt and Atif Sheikh to an earlier innings of 87 off 92 balls, as Durham emerged from Grace Road victorious by 146 runs.
It meant the final fixture against Derbyshire was effectively a last 16 knockout tie and - when the visitors to Chester-le-Street restricted their hosts to just 247-8 - an East Midlands Derby quarter-final against Derbyshire was looking like the most likely outcome for Notts.
The unbroken 65-run partnership for the ninth wicket between Muchall and Chris Rushworth helped Durham recover from 182-8, and provides a pre-match warning to the Outlaws that Durham are well capable of lower-order defiance.
Hastings took 4-24 as Derbyshire’s chase faltered badly to 192 all out, Durham winning by 155 runs and securing their place in Tuesday’s quarter-final.
Notts Outlaws will face Durham in the quarter-final of the Royal London One-Day Cup on Tuesday 25 August at Trent Bridge and tickets are on sale now. Click here to secure your seats.