Alex Hales
Alex Hales

Nottinghamshire beat Northants in NatWest T20 Blast


Nottinghamshire keep up good form with D/L victory over Northants.

 Match scores (Trent Bridge)


Nottinghamshire won by 12 runs (D/L method) 

Northamptonshire inns: 195/8 (20 overs. Levi 88, Ducket 28; Gurney 3-46, Sodhi 3-39) 

Nottinghamshire inns: 52/0 (5.1 overs. Wessels 14*, Hales 30*) 

Match report


Nottinghamshire claimed their second NatWest T20 victory in as many days after defeating Northamptonshire by 10 wickets under the DLS method at Trent Bridge.

Set a victory target of 196, the hosts had reached 52 without loss after 5.1 overs when heavy rain set in and prevented any further play in the North Group contest. DLS at that time showed 40 as being the target.

Alex Hales was unbeaten on 30 with Riki Wessels, who scored a century in Friday evening's win over Derbyshire, 14 not out.

Earlier, the visitors made 195 for eight after being asked to bat first by Outlaws captain Dan Christian.

Richard Levi top-scored with 88 from just 43 balls for the Steelbacks, bludgeoning seven fours and eight sixes in a brutal display of striking.

New Zealand leg-spinner Ish Sodhi claimed three wickets for 39 runs for Nottinghamshire, with Harry Gurney picking up two wickets in the final over to finish with three for 46.

Levi's innings gathered momentum in just the third over of the match, with Jake Ball twice being hit into the crowd. The South African clubbed three more sixes in his 26-ball half century, which boosted the defending champions' total into three figures by the ninth over.

Luke Wood stemmed the flow of runs with a brace of wickets from consecutive deliveries in the 11th over. The 21-year old left-armer had been made to wait until his fifth outing in this format before striking for the first time but he then bowled Ben Duckett for 28 and had Rory Kleinveldt caught at point from his next delivery.

The youngster would also have added Levi to his tally but he over-stepped and was called for a no-ball as the opener lofted down the ground and into the hands of Steven Mullaney when on 81.

Levi only added seven more runs before Sodhi, who had earlier removed Adam Rossington for 17, had him taken by Hales on the midwicket fence, to the relief of most of the 7,638 crowd.

Alex Wakeley made 19 from 16 balls but he became Gurney's 100th victim in T20 cricket when he picked out Wood at deep backward square leg when looking to accelerate.

The paceman dismissed both Rob Newton and Steven Crook in the closing over before Ben Sanderson launched the final ball of the innings into the pavilion seats.

It took Hales and Wessels only 4.3 overs to bring up Notts' 50 as they began their pursuit of 196. Light drizzle then began to intensify and the umpires had no option but to take the players from the field after just one delivery of the sixth over.

The outcome lengthens Northamptonshire's unhappy record at Trent Bridge, where they have never won in T20 cricket and where their last win in any format was a one-day success in 2003.

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