Having been spun into Notts by the Hants spinners, the Outlaws charged back from the dead to seal a Natwest t20 final berth.
After Crane, Dawson and Afridi spun a web with the ball, captain Vince looked to be completing the job with the bat for Hants. But when he fell as one of Mullaney’s 3-22, and Carberry was superbly run out by Patel, Notts got their peckers up and finished the job ruthlessly.
Arguably the best team on paper and the most consistent white ball team all summer, the RLODC winners got to another white ball final.
Before 3pm Notts lost two in the powerplay; star man Hales and wicketkeeper Moores went for 15 and 0 respectively, both bowled by Chris Wood, caught at short third man. Spin appeared the most difficult to get away, Hampshire’s three prong spin-attack proved a wise choice; Dawson, Crane and even Afridi got through four overs.
Wessels, however, had less trouble taking to Abbot, Berg and Wood, striking two sixes and five fours in his 48 off 27 balls. When he chipped Crane to short extra cover, Patel and Taylor commenced the required rebuilding job.
Taylor played an uncharacteristically stupid shot, leading edging Afridi to long off attempting to play against the spin when on 19, leaving Notts 99-4 off 12. Spin continued to dominate in the middle overs, Crane & Afridi ended with identical figures of 4-0-22-1 before Dawson had Patel and Mullaney caught to finish with 2-36.
For lack of a fourth spin option, Vince went back to pace, Abbott was hit for three sixes off the 17th over, but Carberry clung on to Christian in the deep, undeserved reward for a poor over. The pace men’s woes continued with Abbot and Berg both going at around 10 an over, Notts snuck up to 169-7.
Put in to open again after his quarter-final hundred, Afridi holed out to cow corner first ball of the reply, bringing regular opener James Vince to the crease. Captain cool cruised to 28 off 14 with the field in, whilst Dickinson played a few nice shots for 27 then clothed a pull shot to mid-on last ball of the powerplay.
Surprisingly in before international superstars, Carberry and Bailey, Alsop had a chance when dropped by Patel off his own bowling. But, like a naughty child who doesn’t understand when he’s done something wrong, Alsop learnt nothing from this let off and provided the exact same chance to a pleasantly shocked Mullaney. No Mullaney mistake made, Alsop gone for 20.
Whilst Alsop wasn’t learning his lesson, the man at the other end was teaching the lesson. Vince brought his half century up in style, Patel hit for six, providing an easy strike rate calculation-50 off 25 balls=a 200 SR with Vince barely raising a sweat.
Bailey did not show the calm of a man with five not outs this competition – just six balls into his innings he missed a Mullaney straight one. Carberry hit one of the shots of the day, a back-foot punch off Patel for a straight six, but was superbly run out by the same man the over later for 13.
Vince found Taylor in the deep giving the wily Mullaney a third, leaving the second half of his batting line-up requiring 50 off 34 balls.
Berg and Dawson battled hard and ran well without playing anywhere near as exquisitely as their skipper had. First ball of the 17th Dawson tried to go down town, but only found Wessels at long on – and Berg committed the same felony two balls later.
Abbot also fell in a three-wicket Gurney over before Ball finished the job. These last four wickets were an exception in an otherwise slow-bowler dominated wicket-taking day.
