The Nottingham Outlaws used their three Victorian Bushrangers to full effect to beat the Sussex Sharks in their T20 quarterfinal.

The Nottingham Outlaws used their three Victorian Bushrangers to full effect to beat the Sussex Sharks in their T20 quarterfinal and reach finals day (the most anticipated day in County Cricket).  With three Vics in their side a win was virtually assured, but Notts still made hard work of it at times.

They jumped out of the gates well with 40-year-old Ali Brown.  Brown never made much of a splash in International cricket, but his record List A score of 268 in a 50 over match meant that he has a bar named after him at the Oval.  He dashed to 31 off 16, but his wicket was followed by that of Notts' Mark Cosgrove (Samit Patel) and they were in trouble.

Our David Hussey (Notts' Captain) came to the rescue by steadying the ship with one of the more mature innings of 16 runs you'd see in a T20 match.  Unfortunately he was out only moments before he started hitting Michael Yardy out of Trent Bridge.  Hussey's wicket, like it does for the Vics, left a gaping hole in the side and they kept losing regular wickets afterwards.  It wasn't until another Vic came to the crease that the innings regained any character.

Darren Pattinson might have only made 4 from 8 balls, but it was his Victorian touch that helped Ryan Sidebottom slog a few runs at the end to get Notts a total of 141.  For a normal side, 141 was under the odds.  For a side with two Vic bowlers, it was above par.

That all changed when Notts went out to bowl and found that the dew had come in.  After a rather ropey first over from Ryan Sidebottom, Dirk Nannes stormed in to bowl his first ball of pure masculinity only to slip and slide around the crease.  Obviously we know that Dirk Nannes can slip over on his very best days, but this was less to do with his bowling action, and more to do with the moisture.  He still should have taken a wicket, but Sidebottom dropped one at short fine leg.

Still struggling with the dew, Dirk was given a spell and Darren Pattinson was brought on.  It was an inspired move from Hussey (as if we'd expect anything less) Pattinson's first two deliveries were a metre or two down the legside, but once he worked out the ice rink conditions he was good enough to remove the dangerously gormless Luke Wright.  From there Notts kept chipping away at Sussex through the expert captaincy of David Hussey and left arm finger spin of Samit Patel.

With the game still in the balance, Pattinson was brought back on and showing the skill, determination and Victorian spirit he took the wicket of Sussex's best batsman and top scorer (former West Australian and Zimbabwean Murray Goodwin).  Not content with that he also picked up the big hitting Yasir Arafat.

With the game all but finished Pattinson was rested by his captain with the figures of 3/17 off 3.  With 24 runs needed in the last over Dirk was returned to the attack, as Hussey knew no one was going to hit him for the 24 runs required.  In his first three balls no one hit him at all, but the keeper was so far back they were strolling a bye each time.  Dirk ended up with a dew-affected 0/31 with two catches dropped off his bowling and a top edge for six off the last ball of the innings from the handsome nephew of Mike Gatting.

It was the sort of game that could have been lost easily with less Victorians involved, instead Notts go to finals day of the T20 championship.

27 JULY, 2010 Jarrod Kimber