With a plethora of internationals on show, including the returning Alex Hales and T20 globetrotter Andre Russell for the Notts Outlaws, Harry Gurney believes the clash against Yorkshire Vikings will be of the highest quality.

The Vikings clash will have Hales, Russell, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow all on show after the recent Sri Lanka Test series, providing left-armer Gurney with a perfect environment to challenge himself.

“To play in a fixture where there will be a lot of international talent is a good opportunity to test yourself against the best,” said Gurney.

“My experience from playing on the international stage should help me against those types of players.

“It will be a rowdy atmosphere and both sides have England players available, which should make it a decent spectacle.

“However, I don’t care if it is a spectacle or not provided we get the two points.

“We go to Headingley full of confidence and hopefully we’ll get back on that bus with two points in the bag,” the 29-year-old continued.

“Every time Lumby walks to the crease he seems to belt a hundred for us and over the past two or three weeks, and the bowlers have been going onto the field knowing we have runs on the board.

“If we are restricting first, we are walking off at half time pretty confident that we’ll knock them off.

“We’ve got Hales and Russell coming into the side, Riki who is striking the ball well, in fact all the batsmen are in good nick so things are coming together.”

With seven Specsavers County Championship matches in the first two months of the season, the Outlaws had limited time to practice their white ball skills.

Gurney admits the side were, therefore, a little rusty in the opening stages of the NatWest T20 Blast, but feels everything is now falling in to place.

“If you look at the first couple of T20s we were a little bit rusty in some areas,” he said.

“It’s quite difficult for some of the bowlers to adapt to the white ball format, as with the red ball you can run in and use swing, seam and bowl on a good length.

“But with the white ball you go through a lot more variations in line, length and pace.

“Playing four-day games prior to the first T20s, myself and Fletcher hadn’t had, through no fault of our own, the ideal preparation for a T20 fixture.

“The Warwickshire and Durham attack largely hadn’t played championship cricket building up to the games, so it’s understandable that they were able to prepare more effectively.

“As the blocks have gone on, we have tended to execute our skills better.

“I take positives from the fact that I took five wickets against Durham, when I was really happy with how I bowled generally.

“Hopefully I can learn a lesson from the last two balls (they cost ten as Durham won a last ball thriller) and come back in the future when I am presented with a situation like that, particularly in a knockout game, and I can finish off the job.”

 

Notts Outlaws squad to face Yorkshire Vikings (from): Dan Christian (c), Jake Ball, Luke Fletcher, Harry Gurney, Alex Hales, Brett Hutton, Michael Lumb, Steven Mullaney, Samit Patel, Andre Russell, Greg Smith, Brendan Taylor, Riki Wessels and Sam Wood. 

 

Notts Outlaws NatWest T20 Blast Fixtures & Ticket Information

Vs. Durham Jets – Friday 1 July 6.30pm BUY TICKETS

Vs. Worcestershire Rapids – Saturday 9 July 2.30pm BUY TICKETS

Vs. Yorkshire Vikings – Friday 15 July 6.30pm BUY TICKETS

Vs. Leicestershire Foxes – Friday 29 July 6.30pm BUY TICKETS

Need more information? Call our ticket office on 0844 8118711.