Mick Newell is taking confidence from recent performances with the bat as Notts Outlaws aim for Royal London One-Day Cup Quarter-Final glory against Durham at Trent Bridge on Tuesday.
The final two matches of the Outlaws’ group stage campaign took place in Nottingham and, although James Taylor’s men collected just one point from the floodlit double-header, 591 runs in 88.2 overs of batting have given the Director of Cricket ample reasons to be optimistic.
Dan Christian starred with rapid half-centuries in each of the matches and - with alternative overseas player Imran Tahir on international duty with South Africa - the former Australia all-rounder is set to retain his place for the last eight fixture.
Newell praised the 32-year-old’s versatility and all-round contribution during a tournament in which the Victorian has averaged 49.66 with the bat and 15.37 with the ball, including a five wicket haul in the opening day victory over Warwickshire.
“I think we can take a lot of confidence from the way we have batted for large parts of our innings against Kent and Hampshire.
“We shoved Dan Christian up to number three against Hampshire because we thought it was going to rain and we wanted to get ourselves in a better position if it did, and it worked nicely.
“He has had a good competition for us. We look back at T20 and maybe we didn’t make the most of him with the bat and that’s something we possibly regret.
“But, in this competition, he’s played really well with bat and ball, and he’s an excellent fielder as well.”
Christian, who will return to his native Australia soon after the quarter-final match-up, is likely to feature in a four-pronged pace attack. Harry Gurney, Luke Fletcher, Brett Hutton and Jake Ball look to be competing for the other three positions.
Nottinghamshire fast-bowler Stuart Broad, together with the Durham duo of Ben Stokes and Mark Wood, are not expected to feature in the match.
A white ball matchup against the men from the north-east opens the pages on conflicting form-books, with Durham having won 50-over clashes on two occasions last season - including a resounding 83-run semi-final success - before the Outlaws comfortably triumphed in both NatWest T20 Blast meetings earlier this summer.
Newell insists that last year’s semi-final defeat has no bearing on the outcome of Tuesday’s fixture, and - with Durham also having completed a four day game of their own agianst Middlesex - he played down suggestions that preparations have been affected by playing the LV= County Championship game against Warwickshire during the build-up.
“This is county cricket for you. Durham have played Middlesex, they’ve got to travel and it’s in our favour that we’re at home. It’s not a massive issue. We’ve just got to get on with it.
“We lost both times up there last season but we have turned them over twice in T20 this year,” said Newell.
“It isn’t about revenge for last year, it’s about challenging ourselves to play against a really good team and it’s something we’re looking forward to.
“It’s an interesting game for us, they are a good side and they were the trophy winners last year."
Notts Outlaws squad to face Durham (from): Jake Ball, Dan Christian, Luke Fletcher, Harry Gurney, Alex Hales, Brett Hutton, Steven Mullaney, Samit Patel, Chris Read, Brendan Taylor, James Taylor and Riki Wessels.
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.