Alex Hales smashed 60 off 24 balls as Notts Outlaws thrashed Worcestershire by 10 wickets to go top of the North Group on a night of records in the Vitality Blast at Trent Bridge.

Download a full scorecard from the evening here...

Samit Patel, who became the first English player to complete the double of 250 wickets and 5,000 runs in T20 cricket when he took two for 14 as the Outlaws beat Derbyshire last week, became the first bowler to take 100 wickets at Trent Bridge in the format and only the second to take 100 wickets on any single ground in the world.

The 36-year-old’s all-rounder took three for four from four overs with one maiden as Worcestershire were restricted to a paltry 86 for eight in their 20 overs. It was the most economical four-over spell by any bowler in English T20 cricket history. Jake Ball, meanwhile, took career-best T20 figures of three for 17.

The Outlaws’ speed of victory set an English T20 record too, Hales seeing them home with 82 balls to spare with his 11th four, eclipsing the previous fastest win when Hampshire beat Gloucestershire by seven wickets at Bristol in 2010 with 75 balls remaining.

Hales reached his half-century from just 18 balls having hit two sixes as Notts, who had limited their opponents to just 20 for four in the opening six overs, reached the end of their powerplay needing just two more runs to win at 85 without loss.

The big-hitting opener took 24 in a single over off the former Outlaws spinner Ish Sodhi, going four-four-six-four-six as the crowd showed their appreciation.

Joe Clarke finished on 26 from 14 balls at the other end, the players leaving the field within two hours of wickets being pitched.

Asked to bat first, the Rapids lost Brett D’Oliveira to his first ball, edging Patel to slip with a tentative push, and were three down for six after four balls of the left-arm spinner’s second over after Tom Fell was stumped and Riki Wessels sent a leading edge into the hands of backward point. Ben Cox hit Jake Ball to mid-off to leave them 11 for four.

Jake Libby and Ross Whiteley added 46 for the fifth wicket, but Whiteley’s drive down the ground off Calvin Harrison’s leg spin was the only boundary between them and they were both out in the 13th over, as Steven Mullaney had Whiteley caught at long on and Libby at point.

Ben Dwarshuis picked up the only other four of the innings as he cut Jake Ball to the rope. The Notts and England paceman hit back by dismissing Ed Barnard, caught at long off, and then bowling Dwarshuis next ball in the next over.

Not a single over cost double figures as the Rapids tallied their lowest 20 over total in the history of the format.

Whilst Hales’ pyrotechnics gave Patel a rival in the player of the match stakes, it was the former England left-arm spinner that was ultimately awarded the accolade.

For in their left arm spinning immortal, the Green and Golds have a cricketer so synonymous with their West Bridgford home that his feats on the hallowed turf are near on unparalleled anywhere in the world.

Bangladesh’s Shakib al Hasan is the only other bowler in world T20 cricket to take 100 wickets at a single ground, having claimed 135 at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. 

It’s on such statistics, such longevity and such consistent class that legends are made.

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