Outlaws beat the Bears in a High-Scoring Contest at Trent Bridge
Notts Outlaws and the Bears served up the kind of contest the Vitality Blast was built for: under lights, on a Friday evening at Trent Bridge. The hosts were set a tough chase – their highest if they were successful – one that kept the crowd leaning forward all night. Jack Haynes eventually overshadowed the brilliance of Sam Hain to bring the Outlaws their first win of the season with a seven- wicket win.
Some players save their best for certain grounds. For Sam Hain, that ground is Trent Bridge. It makes you imagine that in the deep underground bunkers where the Hundred coaches pick their draft players, the Trent Rockets have said: just get me Sam Hain, whatever the cost.
In seven Vitality Blast games at Trent Bridge, Hain has scored 505 runs and only been out once. He added 92 of those today. Surprisingly, it’s only his Hundred form that hasn’t lived up to the rest of his experience, and in every format his average shows the class of the player.
At 12 for two with the demise of Rob Yates — bowled by Dillon Pennington, who also enjoys a Trent Bridge occasion — for a duck, Alex Davies was joined by Hain to add 55 for the third wicket from just 27 balls. The misery didn’t stop for the Notts bowlers as Ed Barnard joined Hain, who by now had his feet firmly under the table. Connor McKerr took the brunt of the onslaught, returning figures of none for 67 from his 24 balls.
Sixty-one runs were pummelled from the last four overs as Warwickshire didn’t just reach 200 — they were able to sail way past it. Hain didn’t look like getting close to a second T20 century on this ground. He eventually finished 92 not out.
It would take a concerted effort from the Outlaws to poach this game from the Bears.
With Joe Clarke and Jack Haynes in the home team, they remembered the mantra of ‘once a Pear, always a Pear.’ It was fitting that the former Worcestershire players were going to be the ones that would propel their current side towards the total.
Clarke set off like a man in a hurry — his 58 runs taking just 23 balls, with seven fours and four sixes showing the sort of hitting that he has always been capable of.
Eighty-nine was on the board when Danny Briggs, the left-arm spinner, joined the attack outside the powerplay and Barnard took the catch.
The left-arm spin of Jake Lintott took the second wicket as Lyndon James was caught for 26 runs.
Haynes was in the mood by then and, with Moises Henriques, started to pepper the boundary. Henriques became Briggs’ second victim, and it was their only hope of getting something out of the game: get a new batter in and hope the dot balls followed.
Tom Moores’ first two balls were just that, before Lintott gave the left-hand batter room to cream the ball through cover.
With 22 needed from the final two overs, it was going to be anyone’s game. Barnard steamed in and Haynes powered it straight back over the bowler’s head, hitting the top of the sightscreen and almost taking out a window in the media centre. Four followed from the next ball, and it became a game that the Outlaws would win comfortably.
Haynes finished unbeaten on 89 as his side won with five balls to spare. There won’t be much time to celebrate as they head to Old Trafford tomorrow. While Birmingham Bears are back at home against Durham.
