Steven Mullaney says nobody would have felt sorry for the Outlaws if they'd fallen at the quarter-final hurdle in the NatWest T20 Blast, and insists he always believed the hosts would triumph over the Essex Eagles.
The Outlaws won by 39 runs on Monday night to become the first team to book their place at Finals Day, and extend their T20 winning run to a Club record nine matches.
Now the all-rounder is aiming to make it 11 from 11 as the Outlaws bid for their first T20 trophy.
“It’s knockout cricket now and nobody feels sorry for you if you lose,” said Mullaney.
“I said before the game I felt we deserved to get to Finals Day this year, but that counts for nothing when you get to the quarter-finals.
“Hopefully we’ve got two more great games in us and we can win this competition.
“I had a feeling on Monday night – I said to a few of the lads we would win,” he continued.
“I was just really confident that we would reach Finals Day this year, and to treat over 13,000 fans to a victory like that is no more than they deserve.
The Outlaws bounced back from early defeats in the Blast to storm to the top of the North Group, before showing all the confidence built up during that run to get over the line on Monday night.
Samit Patel and Imran Tahir helped turned the tide against the Eagles, with Mullaney also vital to the victory, but the 29-year-old firmly believes it has been a team effort throughout the tournament.
“The start we got with the bat was great and then we had a bit of a slow middle to get to 160. We wanted 170 but we thought 160 was defendable at half time,” he said.
“Greg Smith was outstanding – to get 50 in a big pressure game. Riki got off to a good start, there was Samit’s innings and even Read’s four at the end was important.
“Essex got off to a flyer after letting one through the slips with Ryder’s first ball, which we thought could have hurt us.
“Then we had a bit of luck with the run out and I thought we were fantastic after that. Samit was unbelievable – and I was lucky enough to do well on the night.
“I knew they were going to have to play well to get boundaries off us because I was bowling into the wind and Samit was turning it away from that, plus we had Imran Tahir with all his tricks.
“I knew they had to take a few risks to get boundaries and we had to build pressure with a few dot balls, then luckily we picked up a few wickets and the run rate kept climbing.
“Dan Christian’s been a fantastic as captain – he gives everyone the freedom to go out and play the way they want.
“Everyone has stood up at certain points this year and we just need someone to stand up two more times.
“Everyone backs their own team mates – everyone backs each other in the dressing room and it won’t be any different on finals day.”
Notts Outlaws have advanced to NatWest T20 Finals Day on Saturday 20 August at Edgbaston with Finals Day tickets going on sale to Members on Friday morning at 8am.