James Taylor has recovered from injury and is in confident mood ahead of leading the Notts Outlaws into what he calls “the best atmosphere in county cricket” against Derbyshire at Trent Bridge on Friday.

The 25-year-old Outlaws Captain has returned swiftly from the hamstring injury that caused him to miss the recent fixture against Worcestershire and is demanding a complete performance from his side in the must win fixture against the Falcons. 

“It is really pleasing to make my return to the squad after missing a few games through injury and I have worked really hard with the fitness guys to get to this point now,” Taylor said.

“I am feeling really positive going in to this must-win game for us, the start of the last four games that we need to win if we are to have chances of progressing.

“It will require a big push from everyone in the squad but what better than a massive game at home against Derbyshire to start us on our way.

“I don’t think the lads need any extra motivation to go out there and put on a show than being at home in front of a huge crowd against our local rivals.

“It is by far the best atmosphere in county cricket and hopefully, come Friday night, Trent Bridge will be rocking again.”

The fast bowling duo of Luke Fletcher and Andy Carter remain on the sidelines with the injuries they sustained in the LV= County Championship fixture against Worcestershire.

And with Ben Hilfenhaus’ spell as overseas player having been prematurely curtailed by injury, Brett Hutton and Will Gidman are both named in the 14-man squad alongside fellow pacemen Jake Ball and Harry Gurney.

Before his injury, Taylor scored a crucial unbeaten 38 in the T20 victory over Northamptonshire Steelbacks, as well as 56 in the LV= County Championship against Worcestershire.

Add to that scores of 33, 32, 23 and 35 not out in the four T20 matches before Northants and Taylor feels in good form despite the short period out of the side through injury.

“Whenever you spend time on the sidelines it is frustrating watching your own side, as you always want to be out there and contributing in important circumstances,” he said.

“I can take confidence from the fact that before my injury I was striking the ball well and had a number of consecutive scores in the T20.

“However, now it is about putting in match-winning performances when needed to get us over the line in the next four games.

“When I look around the dressing room, I am definitely confident that we have plenty of players that have the ability and I just feel it hasn’t quite clicked for us yet this season.

“There is no doubt that the talent and the quality is there. We just need to go out, express ourselves and play attacking cricket throughout the game with both bat and ball.”

 

Notts Outlaws squad to face Derbyshire Falcons (from): Jake Ball, Dan Christian, Will Gidman, Harry Gurney, Alex Hales, Brett Hutton, Michael Lumb, Steven Mullaney, Samit Patel, Chris Read, Greg Smith, James Taylor, Riki Wessels and Sam Wood. 

Derbyshire Falcons squad to face Notts Outlaws (from): Greg Cork, Wes Durston, Scott Elstone, Billy Godleman, Alex Hughes, Chesney Hughes, Tom Knight, Wayne Madsen,  Tom Poynton, Nathan Rimmington, Hamish Rutherford, Ben Slater and Shiv Thakor.

 

Notts Outlaws NatWest T20 Blast Ticket Information

v Derbyshire Falcons – Friday 10 July 6.30pm BUY TICKETS

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