Ben Martindale feels a top-order berth is his natural habitat as he looks to continue a productive start to his Metro Bank One Day Cup campaign.

The homegrown opener is part of an unchanged 14-man squad for Notts’ opening home game in the 50-over competition, which doubles as Trent Bridge’s Family Fun Day.

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Martindale hit 55 from 58 deliveries as the Outlaws amassed 237 against Essex on Thursday, before Dane Paterson and Brett Hutton helped to dismiss the hosts for just 69 in the run-chase.

And having made his List A debut in the middle order last summer, he welcomed the opportunity to set the tone for the innings from the start.

“I do feel more comfortable at the top of the innings,” he admitted.

“It was nice to get a few runs, but I would also like to have got a few more than that, and have batted for a longer period of time with Ben (Slater).

“We played together a lot in the second eleven T20s, and I think we are pretty similar players.

“It’s a little bit like watching myself at the other end really so I always try and pick up a few things along the way.

“He’s also great at giving me those positive messages and backing me to play my own game, and I think it helps that we have a decent friendship off the field.

“It’s great to be out there with him and learning from him.”

Martindale’s brisk contribution helped the Outlaws past three figures in the opening 20 overs of the contest, with a proactive mentality at the heart of his approach.

“I was just looking to be positive really,” he said.

“It was a bit tricky out there, but I made sure I was coming forward to put pressure back on the bowler which I thought was the way to go about it.

“I wanted to make sure I was running hard and putting the bad balls away.”

Notts’ total proved to be more than enough for their opponents at Chelmsford – something which Martindale attributes to the expertise of senior bowlers Paterson and Hutton.

“We thought we may have gone in a bit short at the break, but we know with the type of bowlers that we have got that we will always be able to pull it out of the bag like we did,” he reflected.

“We saw how our wickets fell and looked to take some momentum into our bowling. We always thought that, if we were able to take a few early wickets, then we knew how quickly things could change.”

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