Nottinghamshire’s Second XI confirmed that they would head to T20 Finals Day on Thursday 15 August as table-toppers with a brace of wins at Grantham.
The green and golds were already guaranteed a place at the showpiece event after victory over Worcestershire on Monday, but a pair of triumphs over Lancashire guaranteed first place in the group, and a semi-final against Glamorgan at Arundel.
Notts will contest the opening semi-final at 10.30am, with the victors facing either Hampshire or Durham in the final from 5pm.
Notts named Luke Fletcher, Jake Ball and Zak Chappell in their side for the first clash of the day, and the trio’s pedigree shone through as Lancashire were reduced to 15-4 inside five overs despite winning the toss.
Chappell (2-10) and Fletcher’s opening burst would account for the first three wickets to fall, before Jake Ball removed Tom Bailey shortly after coming into the attack.
Lancashire’s England batsman Haseeb Hameed would offer brief resistance, but when he was caught at cover off Liam Patterson-White (1-14) for 15, the visitors’ chances of setting a competitive total receded further.
Lancashire would be dismissed for just 70, with the remainder of the wickets being taken by Ball (3-17), Fletcher (2-14) and Kashif Ali (2-15).
Ben Duckett, skippering the Seconds, would ensure Notts made light work of the chase.
Opening alongside Ben Slater (12), the left-hander smashed 42 runs off 27 balls, finishing the match in style by hitting his second six of the day.
Duckett was accompanied by Chris Gibson in the middle as Notts secured a nine-wicket wictory with 9.3 overs to spare.
View the scorecard from game one here.
The result confirmed Nottinghamshire’s place at the head of the North Group, and the hosts would consolidate their supremacy over Lancashire with a second win in the afternoon.
Opting to bat first, Duckett would not repeat his earlier heroics, removed by Stephen Parry with the first ball of the innings.
But Chris Nash and Ben Slater combined well to push the score on in the opening overs, the former scoring 35 of the first 38 runs of the innings before being adjudged lbw to Tom Hartley.
Slater, in the company of Liam Patterson-White (15) and Lyndon James, kept the scoreboard ticking over before he was removed four runs short of a half-century, leaving James to continue the momentum through the final overs.
The 20-year-old finished unbeaten on 37 as Notts made 145-6 from their 20 overs.
In response, Lancashire began their innings promisingly, but Chappell (1-18) would again make the breakthrough, dismissing Owais Shah for 20.
Rob Jones enjoyed a more fruitful afternoon, reaching 34 before being trapped lbw by Patterson-White (1-18), but only two other Lancashire batsmen would reach double figures.
Ali was both threatening and economical with the ball, finishing with figures of 4-13, with Jack Blatherwick (2-20) also getting in on the act.
Lancashire reached 111-8 from their allotted overs, leaving the hosts taking a 34-run win into next week's Finals Day.
View the scorecard from game two here.
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There are three further opportunities to catch the Outlaws in T20 action at Trent Bridge this summer, with the next home game under the lights against Derbyshire Falcons on Friday 16 August.