Notts Outlaws begin their white ball season on Friday 20 May when they face Birmingham Bears in their opening match in the NatWest T20 Blast competition.
The Outlaws begin their quest for a first domestic T20 title against the 2014 winners, with the match starting at Trent Bridge at 6.30pm.
The format of this year’s competition is the same as in 2015, with the county sides split into two groups of nine, each contesting 14 qualifying matches, seven at home and seven away.
The top four sides in each group will then progress to the knock out stages.
Head-To-Head
Perhaps surprisingly, given the close proximity of the two counties, Notts Outlaws and the Birmingham Bears have only met on eight previous occasions in this format, all during the last six years.
Prior to that, under a different qualifying format, the Bears were usually placed in the Midlands, Wales and West section.
The Bears won that first meeting in 2010, chasing down 177 at Edgbaston. Since then Notts have won five out of the next seven clashes, winning at home and losing away last season.
Last Meeting
Last year, some extraordinary hitting from Alex Hales helped Notts Outlaws to kick off their NatWest T20 Blast campaign with a convincing eight-wicket victory over the Birmingham Bears at Trent Bridge.
The England one-day international was in irresistible form as he raced to an unbeaten 86 from only 43 balls, hitting five fours and eight sixes as his side cantered to the win with 33 balls to spare.
Birmingham had posted 141 for seven after being invited to bat first, with skipper Varun Chopra making 80 from 61 balls but his side struggled against a disciplined bowling unit, led by Luke Fletcher, who took three for 24.
The Bears, who arrived at Trent Bridge as defending champions, had no answer to the onslaught served up by Hales after the interval, although his opening partner, Riki Wessels, had fired the first shots in anger by racing to a quickfire 30 out of an opening stand of 42.
Hales then took over, with the 26-year-old plundering sixes from six consecutive deliveries faced, spread between the twelfth and thirteenth overs.
No bowler was spared, as the ball repeatedly flew into the stands, with Boyd Rankin and Ateeq Javid baring the brunt of the devastation. Each was hit away for three sixes in a row in one of the most brutal displays of hitting seen on the ground.
History
On 16 June 2010 the sides met for the first time in the shortest format, with the Bears recording a home win, by five wickets, after chasing down a victory target of 177 with seven balls remaining.
David Hussey had made an unbeaten 81 (from just 42 balls 8x4 2x6) as Notts posted 176 for six but the home side reached their target with five batsmen scoring over 20.
Since then Notts have won five out of the seven meetings, beginning with the 2010 return. The football World Cup was in full swing and the start time of that Sunday fixture was brought forward to 11am so that supporters could get away to watch the England v Germany match.
Notts made 149 for six, with Hussey again to the fore, blazing his way to 56 (32 balls 3x4 2x6) before his side ruthlessly dismantled the Bears’ reply, bowling them out for just 117.
In 2011, Notts won by 28 runs in Birmingham, with another 56 from Hussey, adding to a belligerent 70 from Riki Wessels, taking the visitors to 193 to seven.
Both Darren Pattinson (five for25) and Luke Fletcher (four for 30) returned their best T20 figures with the ball, as Warwickshire fell for 165, with Darren Maddy making 61.
Later that summer Notts won the return by 10 runs. Alex Hales made 67 out of 173 for six, before some late hitting from Chris Woakes (44 from 19 balls) got Warwickshire up to 163 for seven.
Played For Them Both
Mark Wagh is the only player to have represented both the Bears and the Outlaws in T20 cricket, although he only made a limited number of appearances for both.
Better known at both counties for his form in the County Championship, he played 15 T20 games for the Bears, scoring 249 runs with a best of 56 and played just three times for the Outlaws in the same competition, after his move to Trent Bridge in 2007.
Other cricketers who have represented both counties in the longer formats of the game include Dilip Doshi, Deryck Murray, Eddie Hemmings, Vasbert Drakes, Daniel Vettori, Anurag Singh and Imran Tahir.
Stats for Notts v Warwickshire in T20
Highest Score
Notts 193-7 Edgbaston 2011)
Warwicks 178-5 (Edgbaston 2010)
Lowest Score
Notts 138-7 (Trent Bridge 2014)
Warwicks 117ao (19.5ovs) (Trent Bridge 2010)
Highest Individual Score
Notts 86* AD Hales (Trent Bridge 2015)
Warwicks 80 V Chopra (Trent Bridge, 2015)
Best Bowling
Notts 5-25 DJ Pattinson (Edgbaston 2011)
Warwicks 4-29 OJ Hannon-Dalby (Edgbaston 2015)
Milestones
Steven Mullaney (78) needs one more appearance to join Alex Hales on 79 for Notts, third in the table behind Samit Patel (124) and Chris Read (110)
Luke Fletcher (49) needs one more appearance to reach 50 in T20 matches
Harry Gurney (39) needs one more appearance to go ahead of both Adam Voges and Gareth Clough (39 each) into 12th spot on Nottinghamshire’s all-time list of T20 appearances.
Coverage
Follow the live scorecard, regular text updates and radio commentary through your perfect match-day companion Trent Bridge Live.
Notts Outlaws NatWest T20 Blast Fixtures & Ticket Information
Vs. Birmingham Bears – Friday 20 May 6.30pm BUY TICKETS
TICKET OFFER Adults £10 / U16s £5 / U21s £7 / Over 65s £7
Vs. Lancashire Lightning – Saturday 4 June 2.30pm BUY TICKETS
Vs. Derbyshire Falcons – Friday 10 June 7.15pm BUY TICKETS
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
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