As Notts prepare to face Northants Steelbacks in their Vitality Blast opener on Friday 31 May, we look back at a remarkable day for the Outlaws' T20 captain. 

Buy tickets in advance and save here...

 

It is high summer 2021; Sunday 13 June to be precise.

With the mercury rising countrywide, Clarke and the Outlaws are warming up at a sweltering County Ground, Northampton.

Cheers echo across the ground as Raheem Sterling kickstarts England's Euro 2020 campaign with a goal against Croatia; a sound which is replicated minutes later as Northamptonshire's slightly tardy stream of the match finally shows the strike for those on the outfield.

Joe Clarke is amongst their number, and is a matter of hours from crafting, clouting and caressing a career-best in the 120 format: 136 from 65 deliveries.

"You always get a feeling when it's going to be your day," he recalls.

"It was one of those days where pretty much everything was hitting the middle. of the bar. No matter where someone bowled to me, I felt like I could hit it wherever I wanted to.

"To get a hundred in a 120 is always special, but to have got two in two years with Notts with his ton securing victory at Durham in 2020] is something I'm really proud of.

"It just gives me the confidence to go out and get even more."

Clarke's innings began in imperious fashion – the opener blasting Ben Sanderson back over his head for a violent maximum and easing Notts to 50-1 at the conclusion of the six over powerplay.

He continued to ease through the gears, striking two further maximums and three fluent fours on his way to a 28-ball half-century, with Notts 98-1 at the halfway stage.

Peter Trego (24 off 21), so often a statesman of the centre stage, instead settled in as co-pilot to the flying Shropshireman as the pair posted 82 for the second wicket. 

 

 

Clarke then had Tom Moores for company as he moved into the 90s, walloping Graeme White for two further maximums in three balls to take the Notts total to 141 inside 14 overs.

And he sailed to his second T20 century in Green and Gold in the grandest of manners with a six, his eighth of the innings, stroked regally back over Tom Taylor’s head.

The landmark arrived in just 49 balls and was celebrated by a beating off the chest, a kiss of the helmet and – true to form – three more consecutive maximums off Ben Sanderson.

The rampant right-hander had by now taken his tally beyond anything posted by a Notts batsman in T20 history.

And he continued in the same vein, ramping Wayne Parnell over the keeper’s head to take the total to 204-4 with 11 deliveries still to go.

By the time he was dismissed, Clarke had made a quite remarkable 136. He had faced 65 balls, hitting six fours and 11 sixes – the mainstay of an Outlaws’ total of 214-7.

*******