Notts Outlaws head to Edgbaston on Saturday to take part in the NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day; the third time the side has qualified for the showpiece event.

The semi-final draw has seen Notts face Northants Steelbacks in the opening match of the day, with the action due to begin at 11am.

Yorkshire Vikings and Durham Jets will face each other, for the right to play the winner. Their last four match gets underway at 2.30pm, with the two winners going through to contest the final at 6.45pm.

Head To Head

Notts and Northants have played relatively few times in the domestic T20 competition, often having been placed in different geographical groups.

Of the eight scheduled meetings, Notts are yet to lose – with them having achieved five victories. Two contests have been tied and the 2011 match-up at Wantage Road was washed away without a ball being bowled.

The sides have met in the last three finals of the popular pre-season Barbados T20 Cup competition, with Notts winning on each occasion. Notts also won the only other contest played on the island, a quarter-final in 2013.

Should the Outlaws advance to the final, their records against the other semi-finalists are:

Yorkshire: Played 26 Won 15 Lost 9 No Result 1 Abandoned 1

Durham: Played 23 Won 11 Lost 8 No Result 1 Abandoned 3

Last Meeting

The only meeting this year was at Wantage Road on 8 July. Dan Christian won the toss for Notts, opted to field and saw his side produce their most ruthless display of the qualifying stages.

The Steelbacks were bowled out for just 122 in 18.2 overs, despite being 52 without loss after five overs.

Once pace came off the ball, a succession of Northants batsmen failed to cover themselves in glory as Steven Mullaney (three for 12), Imran Tahir (three for 13) and Samit Patel (two for 27) enjoyed their day out.

Notts lost four wickets in securing the two points but they reached their target in 17 overs, largely thanks to Christian’s 56, made from 32 balls, with four fours and four sixes.

History

Apart from uncompleted and abandoned matches, Notts have played 141 times in the domestic T20 competition, winning 84 times and losing on 55 occasions.

The other two matches were both tied – both in 2010 – and both came against Northants Steelbacks.

At Trent Bridge, that year, the Steelbacks were restricted to 121 for seven, with Darren Pattinson taking four for 19 for the hosts.

Notts were plunged into trouble early in their chase as Chaminda Vaas claimed three for seven in an opening burst which left the innings in tatters on 23 for four.

Steven Mullaney steadied the ship with 53 from 43 balls but he fell at the start of the final over, bowled by Andrew Hall. Five were needed from four deliveries and it looked to be all over when Graeme White hit a boundary but both he and last man Pattinson were run out in a frantic finale, leaving the teams to share a point apiece.

At Northampton, three weeks later, Notts made 144 for seven, with David Hussey scoring 41 and Samit Patel 40.

In a similarly chaotic ending to their innings Northants came up just short, having had three players run out in the final over of their innings, which had begun with 10 needed for victory.

Played For Both

Riki Wessels is looking forward to participating in his second T20 Finals Day. The Notts Outlaws opener has enjoyed a prolific run of form in this season’s competition, with 396 runs at an average of 44.00.

Wessels joined Notts in 2011 and has played in 69 T20 matches for the Outlaws so far, scoring 1,937 runs.

Aside from being one of the most dangerous strokeplayers in this country, the 30-year-old has represented a variety of sides around the globe in the shortest format, with appearances in the Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Australian tournaments, over the last few years.

In 2009 Wessels was a member of the Northants Steelbacks side that played at Finals Day but went out of the competition at the semi-final stage to Sussex.

That was his 46th and final T20 match for the Wantage Road side, that he had joined in 2005.

Other players to have represented both Notts and Northants include Usman Afzaal, Nicky Boje, Mark Bowen, Jason Brown, Phil Jaques, Lance Klusener, Jake Libby, Richard Logan, David Lucas, Wayne Noon, Ben Phillips, Bilal Shafayat, Graeme Swann and Graeme White.

Stats

(for all domestic T20 meetings between Notts & Northants)

Highest Team Total:

Notts: 213-6 (Trent Bridge, 2006)

Nhants: 173-5 (Trent Bridge, 2015)

Highest Individual Score:

Notts: 71 DJ Hussey (Trent Bridge, 2006)

Nhants: 84 JJ Cobb (Trent Bridge, 2015)

Best Bowling:

Notts: 4-19 DJ Pattinson (Trent Bridge, 2010)

Nhants: 3-16 WPUJC Vaas (Trent Bridge, 2010)

Milestones

Michael Lumb (4898) needs a further 102 to reach 5000 runs in T20 cricket.

Alex Hales (3874) needs a further 126 to reach 4000 runs in T20 cricket.

Andre Russell (197) needs 3 more wickets to reach 200 in T20 cricket.

Stuart Broad (92) needs 8 more wickets to reach 100 in T20 cricket.

Samit Patel (148) is approaching his 150th T20 innings.

Samit Patel (49) needs one more catch to reach 50 in T20 cricket.

 

Notts Outlaws will face Northants Steelbacks in the first NatWest T20 Blast semi-final from 11am at Saturday's Finals Day at Edgbaston.

Visit Trent Bridge Live on Saturday for live commentary, updates, ball-by-ball scorecard and statistics.