County Championship 2nd (W4. D10, L2)
NatWestPro 40 League stage
Friends T20 Group stage
Captain(s) Championship and 40-over Chris Read
T20 David Hussey
A second successive second place in the Championship showed the strength of the four-day squad but the performances in the two limited overs competitions was disappointing, with the Outlaws failing to get to the knock-out stages of either tournament.
Although Notts lost only twice during the First-Class summer, both defeats were by a substantial margin – an innings and 102 and an innings and 52 – to the eventual Champions, Durham.
Ally Brown, who had joined Notts from Surrey in the close season, made his county debut in the opening fixture versus Worcestershire at Trent Bridge but was one the few top order batters not to thrive as the home side clocked up 505 all out. Brown was lbw to Chris Whelan for 5 but Adam Voges, 99, Samit Patel, 95 and skipper Chris Read with 125 all prospered. Worcester had to follow-on, despite 126 from their keeper Steven Davies and fell five runs short. Stuart Broad with 5-79 was the pick of the Notts bowlers.
Ashwell Prince (135), who had spent the previous season with Notts, was the star of Lancashire’s recovery from a first innings deficit of 180 to force a draw at Old Trafford. Luke Fletcher made his First-Class debut for Notts in this match.
‘Fletch’ showed his promise in the next game, at home to Somerset, taking 4-38 and 3-71 as Notts won by six wickets. No play was possible on the first two days of the draw against Warwickshire at Edgbaston but Fletcher continued his good early season form with 4-115.
A century each from Ally Brown and Chris Read set up a comfortable 191-run win over Hampshire at Southampton. Jason Brown, who had joined from Northamptonshire, played his only First-Class match for Notts against Oxford University CCE at The Parks, a drawn match in which the highlight was 133 from Will Jefferson.
David Hussey and Mark Wagh each made tons as Nottinghamshire drew with Lancashire at Trent Bridge. This was followed by the first loss of the season, at home to Durham.
England bowlers Steve Harmison, 6-20, and Liam Plunkett, 4-56, combined to dismiss Notts for 171 and just 83 to leave the visitors with victory by an innings. Dale Benkenstein, 105, was Durham’s top batter.
There followed a run of seven drawn matches, starting with a rain-affected game against Yorkshire at Scarborough in which David Hussey’s 189 was the major contribution. The draw away to Somerset at Taunton was mainly notable for Ryan Sidebottom’s 5-106 in the home side’s first innings.
Adam Voges made his first Championship century – 139 – in the draw against Sussex at Horsham. Warwickshire had to follow-on at Trent Bridge after Chris Read’s third hundred of the season led Notts to 388 all out. Second time around, Ian Bell, 126, and England colleague Jonathan Trott, 121, led the recovery to a high-scoring draw.
Michael Lumb, who would feature strongly for Notts in future season, made 219 and Sean Ervine 104 as Hampshire reached 654-87 declared; Notts replied with 407, with yet another Read century, but still had to follow-on. A hundred from Mark Wagh ensured that they batted out for the draw.
The loss of most of the second day ensured that the trip to New Road ended in a draw against Worcestershire and the final match of this sequence of draws was the home return with Yorkshire, the highlight of which was 149 from opener Jacques Rudolph.
The juggernaut that was Durham declared their first innings at 648-8 at Chester-le-Street; Michael di Venuto became the second player to make 219 against Notts that season, more than ably assisted by Kyle Coetzer, 107, Shiv Chanderpaul, 109, and Dale Benkenstein, 105.
Unsurprisingly, Notts failed to match this onslaught, making 384 and 212 to lose by an innings and 52 runs, Plunkett 6-85.
The final match of the season was back at Trent Bridge and saw Notts beat Sussex by 35 runs even though Chris Nash – another opponent who would sign for Notts in the future – made 135.
That match saw the final First-Class appearance of Mark Ealham, who had spent six years with Nottinghamshire following more than decade with Kent. Mark finished with 11,349 First-Class runs, 134 centuries and a top score of 153; he made eight Test appearances for England and played in 64 ODIs. In List-A cricket he made a further 6,326 runs and one more century; he also took 643 First-Class wickets and 477 in List-A games.
In addition to Ealham’s retirement, Jason Brown and Will Jefferson left Notts to pursue their cricketing careers elsewhere.
In the World T20 Cup, Trent Bridge staged eight group matches and the semi-final between Pakistan, the eventual champions, and South Africa. Kevin O’Brien, who joined Notts once the tournament ended, played in three matches for Ireland at Trent Bridge, featuring in the win over Bangladesh (Ireland also lost to New Zealand and India).
The Trent Bridge match day volunteers joined those from the other host grounds as guests of the ICC at the final at Lord’s and were part of a celebratory walk round the famous ground during the interval between the women’s and men’s finals.
April 2026
Scorecards and stats can be seen here