Following their three wicket success over Surrey in the opening round of matches in the Specsavers County Championship, Nottinghamshire head to Old Trafford for their next fixture, where they will face Lancashire in the match beginning on Sunday 17 April (11am).
The home county, newly-promoted from Division Two, weren’t involved in this week’s matches, so will kick off their season on home soil and will have England fast bowler James Anderson in their ranks.
His international team-mate Stuart Broad has also been cleared to play and will line-up in a Nottinghamshire side that claimed maximum points in their opening fixture.
Head To Head
The rivalry between Lancashire and Nottinghamshire stretches right back to 1868, when the counties met for the first of their 232 meetings at first class level.
In overall meetings the head-to-head advantage lies with Lancashire, with 68 victories, to Nottinghamshire’s 57, whilst 107 matches have been drawn.
In Lancashire there have been 116 meetings, mostly at Old Trafford but the sides have also played at Aigburth, Liverpool (11 meetings), Southport (5), Blackpool (2) and Lytham St Annes (1).
On home soil the Red Rose have tasted success on 43 occasions, losing 24 times, with 49 draws.
Recent history though, favours Notts. Since 1980 they have won nine and only lost two of the 23 matches in Lancashire. The home side haven’t won this century, last registering a win in 1999 and the last three contests (Southport 2011, Old Trafford 2012 and Aigburth 2014) have all produced Nottinghamshire victories.
Last Time
Harry Gurney was the unlikely batting hero the last time these two counties met during a Lancashire home game. His innings of one not out sealed a thrilling one-wicket victory at Aigburth in 2014.
The last meeting at Old Trafford was in 2012 when England players James Anderson (Lancs), Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann (Notts) were all cleared to play.
It was another world-renowned bowler, however, who stole the show. New Zealand’s Andre Adams recorded the best figures of his illustrious career, seven for 32, to ruthlessly dismantle Lancashire for only 146 in their first innings.
Samit Patel, Michael Lumb and Chris Read all scored half centuries in a low-scoring encounter, meaning Lancs were set to score 328 in their second attempt.
Adams again, with three for 18 (giving him match figures of ten for 50) and Broad, who took three for 67, rendered the target as meaningless when they reduced Lancashire to 39 for five.
Patel and Swann each helped themselves to a brace of wickets as Notts – and Adams – celebrated a hugely-emphatic 185 run win.
History
1974
The greatest all-rounder of them all, Sir Garfield Sobers, bowed out of first class cricket after a match for Nottinghamshire against Lancashire at Old Trafford – and he went in style.
Then aged 38, he made scores of 132 not out and 77 in the end of season encounter, before pulling the curtains down on his illustrious career.
The West Indian superstar left the game with a career tally of 28,314 runs and 1043 wickets in first class cricket.
2010
Thursday 16 September 2010 is a date that will never be forgotten by Nottinghamshire followers. Beginning the day as third favourites to lift the LV= County Championship title, Nottinghamshire picked up the five bonus points they needed against Lancashire at Old Trafford to leapfrog Somerset and Yorkshire to take the crown.
With most of the first three days having been lost to rain, the side made it to 400 for nine declared – and maximum points – thanks to 126 from Adam Voges and 94 from Samit Patel. Only 4.4 overs were then needed for Ryan Sidebottom (1-6) and Andre Adams (2-3) to take the three wickets needed to start the celebrations.
Stats
Highest Team Total:
Nottinghamshire: 560 (Old Trafford 1993)
Lancashire: 627 (Trent Bridge 1905)
Highest Individual Score:
Nottinghamshire: 238 RT Simpson (Old Trafford 1949)
Lancashire: 250 JT Tyldesley (Trent Bridge 1905) & 250 JP Crawley (Trent Bridge 1994)
Best Bowling:
Nottinghamshire: 8-25 TG Wass (Aigburth 1906)
Lancashire: 9-36 W Huddleston (Aigburth 1906)
Hat Tricks:
Nottinghamshire: JA Dixon (Trent Bridge 1887), TL Richmond (Trent Bridge 1926), K Smales (Trent Bridge 1955)
Lancashire: RG Barlow (Old Trafford 1886), AW Mold (Trent Bridge 1895), R Tattersall (Old Trafford 1953), P Lever (Old Trafford 1969)
Played For Them Both
Nottinghamshire’s Steven Mullaney has started the season with a bang, registering centuries against Cambridge MCCU and Surrey. He joined Notts for the 2010 campaign, after beginning his career at Lancashire where he played just four first class games, which included an innings of 165 not out, against Durham UCCE.
Amongst the other players to have represented both Nottinghamshire and Lancashire are Jack Bond, Mark Crawley, Steve Elworthy, Jason Gallian, Kyle Hogg, Gary Keedy, Oliver Newby, Ashwell Prince, Ajmal Shahzad and Peter Siddle.
Did You Know?
When the sides met at Trent Bridge in 2010 Nottinghamshire’s Alex Hales brought up an unwanted record – believed to be unique in first class cricket.
He was dismissed twice in the nineties – on the same day!
Hales had fallen for 98 early on the last day, as Nottinghamshire’s first innings drew to a close.
Lancashire batted for around two hours before declaring, leaving Notts with a run chase, which Hales anchored successfully, although he fell for 93 just before the final runs were scored.
Milestones
Nottinghamshire players approaching first class milestones this week are:
Stuart Broad (3,898) needs 102 runs to reach 4,000.
Harry Gurney (195) needs 5 wickets to reach 200.
Steven Mullaney (49) needs one more wicket to reach 50.
Brett Hutton (47) needs 3 more wickets to reach 50
Chris Read (896) needs 4 more dismissals to reach 900 for Notts (854 catches, plus 41 stumpings)
Samit Patel (98) needs 2 more catches to reach 100 for Notts
Tickets
For details on admission prices, plus all other matchday information, please visit the Lancashire County Cricket Club official website www.lccc.co.uk
Coverage
Follow the live scorecard, regular text updates and radio commentary through your perfect match-day companion Trent Bridge Live.