Notts Outlaws got their NatWest T20 Blast campaign up and running with a dramatic two-wicket victory over Lancashire Lightning at Trent Bridge.
The match seemed to be drifting away from the Outlaws before an intervention from the rule book awarded the hosts six penalty runs, enabling them to make a last over dash for victory.
Set to score 185, Notts had been sent on their way by splendid half centuries from Riki Wessels and Michael Lumb before a late innings collapse saw six wickets go down in five overs.
From a position of strength, at 143 for two, the Outlaws were up against it at 168 for eight, and then left needing 15 from the final over.
As Lancashire Lightning hadn’t been in a position to start the final over in time Notts were awarded six penalty runs, bringing the equation down to nine needed.
A mighty six from Sam Wood and a couple of singles, left Luke Fletcher to clip the winning run with two balls remaining.
Wessels had scored 58 and Lumb 53 to set Notts on their way but wickets continued to tumble thereafter, with George Edwards taking three for 38, before the incredible conclusion – which left most of the 10,749 strong crowd roaring their approval.
Earlier, Lancs made 184 for eight, with Jos Buttler scoring 56 not out.
The Outlaws were unchanged from the eleven that were defeated at Durham in the previous match, whilst Lancs kept faith with the side that had defeated Yorkshire in the Roses Match at Old Trafford, a contest that finished only 17 hours earlier.
Included in the Lancs starting line-up was Buttler, twice a victor over Notts in crucial T20 knock-out matches. In the 2010 semi final at Southampton, Buttler took the man of the match award after hitting an unbeaten 55 from 23 balls. The following year his equally explosive 34 not out, made from just 14 deliveries, saw off Notts in their home quarter final.
With so much riding on the match; Notts still searching for their first win and their opponents having lost two of their first three, the early stages were predictably important as Alviro Petersen and Martin Guptill strode to the crease.
23 runs came from the first three overs and then acceleration came as Guptill lifted Jake Ball’s first delivery several feet over the ropes at midwicket for the first six of the match.
Guptill’s progress was terminated at the start of the next as Greg Smith caught him in the deep for 28, off Harry Gurney, for a much-needed breakthrough.
Only six runs came from the next two overs, leaving Lightning on 46 for one at the end of the powerplay.
Petersen greeted the arrival of Samit Patel by blasting a maximum into the lower tier at the Radcliffe Road end but was then given out lbw for 21, next ball.
Patel picked up a second wicket just before the halfway mark, having the dangerous Liam Livingstone caught behind for 9. Catcher Riki Wessels then handed over the gloves and the ‘keeper’s duties to Brendan Taylor for the second half of the innings.
Karl Brown, fresh from a fifty against Yorkshire a few hours earlier, made 47. He had help though. A mighty six off Patel was his stand out shot but he should have gone on 39 when he skied a ball high above bowler Steven Mullaney, who somehow misjudged the chance and put it down.
A second catch from Wessels, this time out on the rope, off Gurney, eventually accounted for Brown.
Buttler then got into his stride in the closing overs, hitting three huge sixes in his 27-ball 50.
Notts needed a fast start and it came from Lumb and Wessels. The cleanness of their hitting was a sight to behold, with the left-hander first out of the blocks, hitting three huge sixes in the first 17 balls of the innings.
Wessels then joined in the fun, at the expense of George Edwards, whose opening two overs cost 31 runs as the powerplay brought a score of 72 for none.
Lumb was first to his 50 (26 balls 5x4 4x6) as the stand reached 93, a the county’s best first wicket partnership v Lancs. It had been extended to 100 when Petersen caught Lumb on the ropes off Parry.
Wessels then moved to his own half century (26 balls 7x4 2x6) but an unexpected collapse wasn’t far away.
Jordan Clark bowled Wessels and removed Patel for nought, captain Christian fell to Neil Wagner and Edwards nipped in with three wickets, leaving the Red Rose scenting victory.
Sadly for them, they paid the price for taking too long to bowl their overs and Notts got home – thanks to Wood and Fletcher.
Notts Outlaws will face the Essex Eagles in the quarter-final of the NatWest T20 Blast, with a 6.30pm start on Monday 8 August at Trent Bridge, and tickets are on sale now.