Friday’s visitors to Trent Bridge provide an interesting footnote in the Outlaws’ T20 history.

On 13 June 2003, as a new era of twenty-over cricket in this country began, the Outlaws made what would become the familiar trip up the A1 to face Durham at Chester-le-Street.

With the players stepping into the unknown, any suggestion of a par score was out of the question, as was the prospect of trying to launch every ball into the nearby Lumley Castle.

Still, as the Outlaws walked off the field some 20 overs later, they surely would have been happy with their opening day’s work.

Skipper Jason Gallian placed down his captain’s hat and picked up his Gunn & Moore to marshal the innings with a 48-ball 62, a strike rate just shy of 130.

Kevin Pietersen, a player who would go on to consistently challenge the status quo in all forms of the game, relished cricket’s newest format, hitting the Outlaws’ first six in a 16-ball 25.

Paul Franks, meanwhile, who remarked in recent times that he didn’t take T20 cricket seriously enough in its infancy, produced an unbeaten 19-ball 29 to prove he had as much of a place in the white-ball game as he did in the longer formats.

All-in-all, the Outlaws had produced a total of 157-7, long considered par in T20’s in the intervening years, but surely an above-average effort in a first-ever outing.

Alas, as T20 cricket would go on to prove, no score is out of reach.

Despite a brace of Pietersen run outs, the future England international also sending down three overs of his trademark off-spin, the hosts seemed to always be in control.

An explosive innings at the top of the Durham order from Nicky Peng (49), coupled with a 23 from Vince Wells, countered Andrew Harris’ early dismissal of Phil Mustard.

Once they had both departed, due to the smart work of Pietersen in the field, it was left to Ash Thorpe to steer the hosts to victory with an unbeaten 35.

There was also time for a run-a-ball 21 from Gary Pratt, a name that would go down in folklore at Trent Bridge just a couple of summers later with his infamous run-out of Ricky Ponting.

It may have been without its customary explosion of boundaries, wickets and pyrotechnics, but T20 cricket had arrived nonetheless.

Since that day, Notts have enjoyed many a memorable evening against their opponents from the North East, winning 18 of the 30 encounters to date as the next chapter looms at Trent Bridge.

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Be More Outlaw: The 2022 Vitality Blast at Trent Bridge

Pin your green and gold colours to the mast by securing your seats for Notts Outlaws' final home game in the Vitality Blast group stage.

Friday 1 July, Notts Outlaws vs Durham: Secure your seats…