Notts Outlaws head to Old Trafford on Wednesday evening to face Lancashire Lightning in their latest NatWest T20 Blast fixture.

Both sides still harbour aspirations of making the knock out stages but neither can afford many more slip-ups in an increasingly tight North qualifying group.

Lancashire currently sit fourth in the table, having gained 12 points from their 11 matches to date. The Outlaws are two points and two places further back, from the same number of fixtures.

Neither county has won the competition during the twelve years it has been staged, with Notts twice reaching Finals Day; doing so in 2006, when they were runners-up, and in 2010.

Lightning were losing finalists in 2005 and again last year and have reached the last four on three other occasions, 2004, 2007 and 2011.

Head To Head

The two counties will be meeting for the 19th time in the T20 format this week with Notts Outlaws having won nine of the matches and Lancashire Lightning eight, with the 2012 game at Old Trafford being abandoned.

Each side has been particularly strong on home turf, with Lancashire having won just twice in Nottingham and the Outlaws claiming just one win in Manchester.

That success, in 2013, was the first in seven trips to face the Lightning at Old Trafford.

Last Time

Although New Zealand’s Mitchell McClenaghan claimed the man of the match award for returning figures of five for 29, it was another overseas star, David Hussey, who made the most telling contribution when the sides last met in Manchester.

The 2013 meeting at Old Trafford took place on July 1 and saw the Outlaws get over the line comfortably, winning by four wickets, with 14 balls to spare.

Steven Croft, with 52, and Simon Katich, who added 48 helped the Red Rose get up to 155 for six, with none of the Outlaws’ attack taking more than one wicket.

Alex Hales blasted three sixes in a 37-ball innings of 49, before becoming one of McClenaghan’s victims but Hussey, skippering the Outlaws, ensured there was to be no swing in momentum as he took his side to the brink of victory with 52 from just 28 deliveries before getting out.

History

Lancashire’s first ever match in the new domestic T20 format was against Notts Outlaws at Trent Bridge in 2003.

The Outlaws had begun their campaign three days earlier, losing their inaugural match against Durham.

Better for the experience, they were too strong for the Red Rose though, skittling them out for just 120 in 19.2 overs.

Richard Logan claimed figures of 4-0-26-5 for the home side, with Warren Hegg provided the main resistance in scoring 45 for the Lightning. Notts, captained by Paul Franks, cantered to their target to win by seven wickets with five balls remaining, largely due to 58 from Kevin Pietersen.

Played For Them Both

Steven Mullaney joined Nottinghamshire during the winter of 2009/10 and was an integral part of his county’s championship win in his first season.

He has now made 72 first class appearances for Notts, scoring 3,564 runs and taking 44 wickets. His 76 T20 matches have brought him 651 runs and 55 wickets and he has also played in 58 one-day encounters, including the 2013 Yorkshire Bank 40 win at Lord’s.

Prior to his move to Trent Bridge he played in just four first class, eight one-day and three T20 matches for Lancashire.

Amongst the other cricketers to have represented both Nottinghamshire and Lancashire are Gary Keedy, Peter Siddle, Oliver Newby, Jack Bond, Mark Crawley, Steve Elworthy, Jason Gallian, Kyle Hogg, Ashwell Prince and Ajmal Shahzad.

Stats – (Notts v Lancs in all T20 matches)

Highest innings totals:

Notts 198-5 (2005) Trent Bridge

Lancs 178-4 (2012) Trent Bridge

Lowest innings totals:

Notts 91ao (2006) Old Trafford

Lancs 106ao (2005) Trent Bridge

Highest individual innings:

Notts SR Patel 84* (2007) Trent Bridge

Lancs SJ Croft 83* (2009) Trent Bridge

Best bowling:

Notts 5-22 GG White (2013) Trent Bridge

Lancs 5-29 MJ McClenaghan (2013) Old Trafford

Did You Know?

In the 2004 meeting at Old Trafford Lancashire’s Dominic Cork recorded a hat-trick against Notts Outlaws.

The match had been reduced to just eight overs per side after earlier rain and Cork removed Kevin Pietersen, Mark Ealham and Samit Patel in consecutive deliveries to help set up the Lightning’s seven-wicket win.

Shaun Tait of Essex, in the 2013 quarter finals, is the only other bowler to record a hat-trick against Notts in the domestic T20 competition.

Milestones

Riki Wessels (49) needs one more catch for 50 in T20 cricket.

Luke Fletcher (49) needs one more appearance to reach 50 in T20 cricket.

Tickets

For details of admission prices and all other matchday information please refer to the official Lancashire County Cricket website www.lccc.co.uk

Coverage

BBC Radio Nottingham will be providing ball-by-ball commentary of this fixture, both on the radio and on-line, via the BBC Sport website and app.

The match is also being screened live by Sky Sports on their Ashes channel, 403.

Follow the live scorecard, regular text updates and radio commentary through your perfect match-day companion Trent Bridge Live.

 

Notts Outlaws will next be in action with the return of 50-over cricket for the Royal London One Day competition throughout July and August starting with a weekend at Welbeck Cricket Club. Don't miss out on the next step of our summer of cricket and secure your seats now.