Result: Notts Outlaws (129/1; Wessels 49*, Hales 44; 2 points) beat Durham Jets (123; Clark 41; Patel 3/26; 0 points) by nine wickets
Notts Outlaws prevailed by nine wickets after Durham Jets were bowled out for 123 in the latest NatWest T20 Blast fixture at Emirates Riverside.
Graham Clark top-scored with 41 at the top of the order but regular early wickets forced the brakes on the Jets before they were bowled out with 11 balls to spare.
Liam Trevaskis finished unbeaten on 13 before opening the bowling, later going on to take the scalp of Alex Hales as his maiden First XI wicket.
However, 123 would not prove to be enough against a powerful Outlaws side as they strolled home with four overs left.
Hales looked in good touch before his dismissal, driving skipper Paul Coughlin twice straight down the ground in quick succession in an over which yielded 15 runs.
The England opener set about finishing it as quickly as possible, only to be bowled when going down the pitch to Trevaskis in the seventh over.
There were already 69 on the board & Riki Wessels was able to continue his good form by making an unbeaten 49 before Brendan Taylor finished the match with a six over long-on to finish on 33.
Earlier in the piece, Durham slipped to eight for two after ten balls. They were briefly revived by Clark with 41 off 27 balls, but from 54/2 Durham slipped to 65/6 with Samit Patel picking up three wickets.
On the day he was awarded a full contract until the end of the 2019 season, Cameron Steel cut the first ball of the match for four, but after adding two singles he lifted left-arm seamer Luke Wood’s first ball to extra cover.
Paul Collingwood was moved up to No 3 but fell for nought, skying a pull off Wood to backward square leg.
Clark cut, pulled and drove three fours in taking 15 off the first five balls of a Jake Ball over, only for Michael Richardson to bottom edge the sixth into his stumps.
Patel was recalled & had Clark caught behind when aiming to leg, a decision which the batsman looked unhappy about, before Jack Burnham’s fierce drive to extra cover was well held above his head by Dan Christian & Stuart Poynter played all round Patel’s next ball.
Coughlin & Pringle could afford few risks but did well to add 39 before Pringle pulled Steven Mullaney straight to deep backward square.
Smart work saw Coughlin run out & Barry McCarthy stumped by Tom Moores off Ish Sodhi before last man Chris Rushworth lofted to mid-off.
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