Notts seal T20 quarter final place

Patel scored 58, making his runs from 47 balls, with two fours and two sixes. It was his 19th score of fifty or more in the domestic T20 competition.

Set to score 161, the home side recovered from a nervy start to reach their target in 19.4 overs, with Chris Read finishing on 35 not out.

Michael Lumb had been bowled by Azeem Rafiq and both Riki Wessels and Dan Christian were then undone by Steven Patterson as Notts slumped to 47 for three within the powerplay overs.

Greg Smith helped mount something of a recovery, putting on 51 with Patel but their work was undone when three wickets fell for just four runs within the space of 10 balls.

Smith’s run-a-ball 32 was ended by a fine running catch from Adil Rashil, who then trapped Brendan Taylor lbw. An accurate shy from Patterson then accounted for Steven Mullaney.

Patel, who brought up his 50 from 40 balls, and Read brought the equation down to 42 needed from four overs and 14 from the last two.

Although Liam Plunkett dismissed Patel just short of the finishing line, Read ensured the hopes of the home supporters in a crowd of 12,595 weren’t disappointed, by crashing the winning boundary through the covers.

Earlier, Australian international Travis Head made an impressive debut for the Vikings, scoring 40 from just 25 balls and sharing in a stand of 67 from 42 with Kane Williamson.

Their partnership threatened to take the game away from the Outlaws but when both fell, the momentum was lost and only 21 runs came from the final four overs as Yorkshire closed on 160 for seven.

The visitors had lost their captain, Alex Lees, in the second over when Harry Gurney flattened a couple of his stumps but Lyth, who scored 39, was quickly into his stride, hitting the first of his two maximums during a Christian over which went for 23 runs.

Lyth was caught in the deep, off Patel, in the seventh over but Head and Williamson boosted the total to 90 for two by the halfway stage.

The returning Gurney had Head comfortably taken by the reliable hands of Wessels and later bowled Tim Bresnan to finish with the impressive figures of three for 17.

Williamson also scored 39 before chipping Mullaney’s medium-pace into the waiting hands of Imran Tahir at short fine leg.

Tahir was unusually expensive in his opening over, going for 19 runs but he bounced back to have Plunkett smartly stumped by Read.

Plunkett’s previous scoring shot at Trent Bridge had been a six off Nuwan Pradeep to tie the One Day International last month and he got off the mark with another mighty blow over the ropes before Tahir had his revenge one ball later.

With other results going their way Notts are assured of progressing to their sixth quarter final in seven years whilst Yorkshire may need to win all of their remaining three matches to join them.