Notts Outlaws return to white ball cricket on Friday evening when they host Birmingham Bears at Trent Bridge (6pm).

The Outlaws have two wins and losses apiece from their opening four matches. Warwickshire County Cricket Club are the guests this week but, under a new sponsorship deal, they are playing their matches in the NatWest T20 Blast under the name of the city, rather than the county – hence they will be appearing as the Birmingham Bears during this campaign.

Notts currently lie sixth out of the group of nine, with four points, The Bears are a point and two places better off, with two wins, one defeat and an abandonment from their opening four rounds of fixtures.

 

Head-To-Head

For only the third of the 12 seasons of the domestic T20 competition, Notts and Warwickshire find themselves in the same qualifying group. More often than not, the Edgbaston-based county have been in the Midlands, Wales and West section but are again paired with the Outlaws after a break of three years.

Only four previous clashes have taken place, two in Nottingham and two in Birmingham, with the Outlaws currently ahead by three wins to one.

On 16 June 2010 the Bears recorded a home win, by 5 wickets, chasing down a victory target of 177 with 7 balls remaining.

David Hussey had made an unbeaten 81 (from just 42 balls 8x4 2x6) as Notts posted 176-6 but the home side got home with five batsmen scoring over 20.

Since then Notts have won three out of three, beginning with the 2010 return match. Coincidentally, a football World Cup was also being staged at that time (as it is now) and the start time of that Sunday fixture was brought forward to 11am so that supporters could get away to watch the England v Germany match.

Notts made 149-6, with Hussey again to the fore, blazing his way to 56 (32 balls 3x4 2x6) before his side ruthlessly dismantled the Bears’ reply, bowling them out for just 117.

In 2011 Notts won by 28 runs in Birmingham, with another 56 from Hussey, adding to a belligerent 70 from Riki Wessels, taking the visitors to 193-7.

Both Darren Pattinson (5-25) and Luke Fletcher (4-30) returned their best T20 figures with the ball, as Warwicks fell for 165, with Darren Maddy making 61.

Later that summer Notts won the return by 10 runs. Alex Hales made 67 out of 173-6, before some late hitting from Chris Woakes (44 from 19 balls) got Warwickshire up to 163-7.

 

Played For Them Both

Mark Wagh is the only player to have represented both Warwickshire Bears and Notts Outlaws in T20 cricket, although he only made a limited number of appearances for both.

Better known at both counties for his form in the county championship, he played 15 T20 games for the Bears, scoring 249 runs with a best of 56 and played just 3 times for the Outlaws in the same competition, after his move to Trent Bridge in 2007.

Other cricketers who have represented both counties in the longer formats of the game include Dilip Doshi, Deryck Murray,Eddie Hemmings, Vasbert Drakes, Daniel Vettori and Anurag Singh.

 

Stats for Notts v Warwickshire in T20

Highest Score

Notts 193-7 (2011) Edgbaston

Warwicks 178-5 (2010) Edgbaston

Lowest Score

Notts 149-6 (2010) Trent Bridge

Warwicks 117ao (19.5ovs) (2010) Trent Bridge

Highest Individual Score

Notts  81* DJ Hussey (2010) Edgbaston

Warwicks 61 DL Maddy (2011) Edgbaston

Best Bowling

Notts 5-25 DJ Pattinson (2011) Edgbaston

Warwicks 3-28 NM Carter (Trent Bridge) 2010

 

Milestones

Michael Lumb has scored 3935 T20 runs, Alex Hales has 2988 and James Taylor 1497. Chris Read has taken 48 catches in this format of the game, 47 of them for Notts.

 

Notts Outlaws NatWest T20 Blast fixture and ticket information:

v Birmingham Bears – Friday 13 June 6pm BUY TICKETS
v Derbyshire Falcons – Friday 20 June 6pm BUY TICKETS
v Yorkshire Vikings – Saturday 28 June 2.30pm BUY TICKETS
v Leicestershire Foxes – Sunday 20 July 2.30pm BUY TICKETS

Want the best seats in the house? Call 0844 8118712 for hospitality or click here for our £30 steak, chips and cricket package.

 

Coverage

BBC Radio Nottingham will be providing ball-by-ball commentary for this match, both on FM frequencies and on-line, via the BBC Sport website.