The reigning Royal London One-Day Cup champions produced one of those scorecards in their clash away at Leicestershire that just makes you sit up and take note.
It appeared that from the moment the Foxes won the toss and asked Nottinghamshire to bat, the Outlaws felt that the gauntlet had been thrown down and they wanted to go to town on their opponents.
If that was the feeling, they did just that. Every Notts batsman that stepped out to the crease seemed to go straight for the jugular.
Chris Nash and Riki Wessels put on 118 for the first wicket inside 15 overs, Nash eventually falling for 56 from 62 balls and Wessels a rapid 76 from just 44 balls.
The increasingly-impressive Tom Moores also blasted his way to 76 as Notts just kept coming at Leicestershire.
Samit Patel would prove to be the star of the show though, with a typically brutal and brilliant innings. He arrived at the crease after 30.1 overs with the score on a mighty 218-3. The platform was set for something special and Patel delivered.
He batted through until the final over, making exactly 100 from just 63 balls. Patel struck the ball cleanly all around the wicket, smashing 14x4s and 2x6s. His knock took Notts past the 400 mark, posting an incredible 409-7 from their 50 overs.
It resulted in the kind of figures that give bowlers nightmares. Only Neil Dexter posted a repectable economy rate of 5.00, as Ben Raine, Varun Aaron, Gavin Griffiths, Callum Parkinson and Tom Wells all went at over 7.5 an over.
Notts’ total was the ultimate case of runs on the board and scoreboard pressure. For Leicestershire to get anywhere near would have been a remarkable effort. Instead, the far more likely scenario played out – a large margin of victory for the Outlaws.
However, Leicestershire deserve a lot of credit for posting a respectable total in reply. They found themselves 93-5, as Jake Ball and Harry Gurney ripped through the Foxes’ top order, and it would have been very easy to sink without trace.
But the lower order showed terrific spirit and resolve. Dexter made 48, Raine 35 and Parkinson 52* – after Tom Wells delivered an excellent career-best 78-ball 69.
Leicestershire ultimately fell just 93 runs short thanks to that fantastic rear-guard action, posting 316-9 from their 50 overs.
Gurney ended with four wickets but the reigning champions won it with the bat, delivering a blistering innings from start to finish and a total that would always prove to be unassailable.
