Despite a career best score of 89 not out from Steven Mullaney Notts Outlaws lost their first white ball match for a month when they were defeated by Yorkshire Vikings at Scarborough.
Notts posted 251 for nine in their Royal London One Day Cup encounter, after being asked to bat first, with Mullaney’s knock (94 balls, 2x4, 5x6) helping his side recover from a perilous 46 for five after 15 overs.
Yorkshire found themselves in a similarly precarious position at 50 for four, before a stand of 97 between Tim Bresnan and Adil Rashid turned the contest decisively in their favour. Bresnan also made his highest score and was unbeaten on 95 when the winning runs were hit, with two balls of the final over remaining. Dan Christian was the pick of the Notts bowlers, taking three for 44, with Luke Fletcher taking four catches in the outfield.
Despite his great knock Mullaney said it counted for little as he finished on the losing team.
“It doesn’t mean much to me at the moment, obviously I’m very pleased to have contributed again. We came here full of confidence and hoping for two points but we’re going home with none.”
He added, “If a couple of things had gone our way, then who knows? But all credit to Tim Bresnan, he played a magnificent innings.”
Wayne Noon, Notts’ head coach, emphasised the quality of the contest. “It was a good game - there’s a classic cliché for the neutral, what a game!”
“We’ve been sat down there in the dressing room and they’re all fairly down but I’ve said to them that the position we got ourselves in, to still be contending in the last over of the innings was a great effort.”
Notts stuck with the same team that had beaten Derbyshire on Sunday but soon ran into difficulties as Yorkshire’s three England seamers picked up early wickets.
Michael Lumb, the competition’s leading scorer, went for nine in an opening stand of 24. The left-hander, looking to loft Tim Bresnan down the ground, failed to clear the leaping Lees at mid off.
He was swiftly followed back to the changing room by three team-mates, all of whom fell without scoring. Greg Smith pulled David Willey into the hands of Travis Head at deep midwicket, Brendan Taylor was caught behind off Bresnan and Samit Patel was trapped lbw to Liam Plunkett.
Mullaney and Christian, through necessity, had to exercise caution, but came out of their shell when spin was introduced. Mullaney hit Azeem Rafiq over the ropes and then his Australian colleague hit the same bowler for two enormous sixes, one clattering into a property set way back at the Trafalgar Square end of the ground.
Christian reached his 50 from 57 balls, with three fours and those two maximums but then slashed Patterson to point.
Chris Read scored 15 before edging Willey behind but the lower order didn’t let Mullaney down, providing solid support in the closing overs.
Fletcher was dropped by Head, on eight, before being stumped for 13 and Jake Ball whacked an impressive 27 (16 balls 2x4 2x6) until Patterson yorked him.
Mullaney’s fifty came off 75 balls, with one four and one six and he finished with a flourish, hitting 25 from the last nine balls of the innings.
Adam Lyth looked as if he wanted to get the match over and done with as he blazed to 39 before falling in the fourth over of the reply. He had already clubbed Harry Gurney for two maximums before drilling the competition’s leading wicket-taker to Fletcher at mid on.
Two balls later Head fell in identical fashion for nought and when Jack Leaning nicked Ball behind, the score had slipped dramatically from 45 for none to 46 for three.
It could have been worse for the Vikings but Mullaney dropped Rashid at slip before he’d scored.
Bresnan reached his 50 from 68 balls, with four fours and a six but he lost his partner as the fifth wicket stand neared three figures.
Rashid (41) pulled Christian down to long leg and Fletcher took his third catch. The pair combined soon afterwards, dismissing Plunkett (10) in identical fashion.
In between, Fletcher, the bowler sent back the dangerous Willey, thanks to an excellent catch, running in from the ropes, by Ball.
The equation had been 42 needed from eight overs, then down to 24 from four. Andrew Hodd hit a big six but was then given out lbw to Christian and fifteen were still needed from two overs.
Rafiq hit the winning runs through the covers with a couple of deliveries remaining, leaving Notts deflated - but the bulk of the 4,959 crowd were left celebrating after a nerve-wrenching finish.
Notts remain handily situated to qualify for the knock-out stages with matches to come against Leicestershire at Grace Road on Sunday, and Worcestershire at Trent Bridge the following day.
Ahead of that, the Outlaws conclude the group stages of the NatWest T20 Blast, also against the Foxes, at Trent Bridge on Friday.
Notts Outlaws Fixtures & Ticket Information
Vs. Leicestershire Foxes – Friday 29 July 6.30pm BUY TICKETS
Vs. Worcestershire – Monday 1 August 2pm BUY TICKETS
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