Riki Wessels, who scored 114 off 85 balls in Notts Outlaws’ 65-run win over the Derbyshire Falcons at Welbeck, says – once the ball started flying to the boundary – there was no way he was taking his foot off the gas.
The Outlaws picked up their third win of the Royal London One-Day Cup campaign to move up to second in the North Group, with Wessels’ second century of the competition leading the Outlaws to 340-7 from their 50 overs.
The 30-year-old kept his cool as the scoring started slowly after the Outlaws had been put in by the Falcons, before hitting the accelerator later in his innings.
“It started off slowly while I got the pace of the pitch and saw what the bowlers were doing, then a bit of free play after that,” said Wessels.
“It’s a matter of getting myself in on the wicket, and we’ve got some big hitters coming in behind us, as we’ve seen so far in this competition.
“There’s no real pressure to get off to an absolute flyer. If it happens, it happens.
“If not, the field restrictions are out there until the 40th over so it’s easy to catch up later on.”
Derbyshire, who sat top of the table coming into the match, initially started strong and Wessels said he sometimes has to bide his time as an opening batsman.
With the picturesque Welbeck the background to a display of power hitting from the right-hander, Wessels says that he doesn’t matter where he plays, as long as the Outlaws win.
“Sometimes bowlers are allowed to bowl well. If they do, you show them respect,” he said.
“It was probably the right way to play today, although it was disappointing to get out in the 25th over when there was still half the innings to go.
“It was a little bit silly from me because it put a bit of pressure on the rest of the batsmen coming in, but it is important that we keep posting these big scores.
“I was starting to get a little bit frustrated with myself, so the first boundary was a bit of a hack to get myself away and see if I could find the middle of the bat.
“After that, I decided I might as well just go with it today. Sometimes it’s nice to play a few shots.
“Ready did it against Yorkshire the other night, came in and belted a few to get us over the line, and he did it again today.
“He paced his innings well and for Mull to hit three sixes in an over was fantastic.
“As long as we keep winning it doesn’t matter where we play,” he added.
It’s a lot more personal at a ground like Welbeck, there’s more heckling from the guys on the boundary because you’re right there next to everybody, but it’s nice to get people a bit closer to the game, and to get more families involved.”
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