Left Duck: Nottinghamshire Cricket News and Updates

One Day Cup - Worcestershire at Trent Bridge 01/06

Alex Hales made his return to the Notts side as they welcomed Worcestershire to Trent Bridge - it was his first game since he announced before the season that he was going to be a white ball specialist. He hit 21 from 32 balls, which is sedate by his regular standards. His opening partner, Riki Wessels, was the pick of the batters as Notts scored just 202 with Moen Ali taking 4-33. In reply, the Bulwell Bomber stepped up to the plate as Luke Fletcher took his best List A figures of 4-20 as the visitors were shot out for 164, giving Notts a relatively comfortable win.

One Day Cup - Durham at The Riverside 03/06

Losing the toss, Notts were put into bat and they were soon in trouble at 26-2. It was only when skipper Steven Mullaney came out to bat that the Outlaws looked in the game as he hit an imperious 124 including 8 fours and 6 sixes. Chris Nash hit 40 in support as they reached 255. The captain was at it with the ball too as he took the crucial wicket of Michael Richardson, Durham's top scorer with 68. Matt Carter then took four wickets and Notts were home and hosed by 31 runs.

One Day Cup - Derbyshire at Trent Bridge 07/06

After two games that looked like they were going to be close, Notts absolutely demolished Derbyshire. After putting the visitors in to bat, Jake Ball took 4-29 and Matt Carter 3-19. Wayne Madsen scored 37 and Matthew Critchley 33 but they could only manage 110 all out. Hales fell early but Wessels scored 63 and Tom Moores hit 41 not out as Notts wrapped up the win by 8 wickets in just the 12th over.

County Championship - Somerset at The County Ground 07/06-12/06

Thanks to the scheduling of domestic cricket, it was then back to a four day game. The hosts batted first and scored 392 runs including 106 for opener Matthew Renshaw and 92 not out for wicketkeeper Steve Davies. Matt Carter was the pick of the bowlers taking five wickets in the innings. In reply, Notts had a collapse reminiscent of 2016, managing just 134 runs. Ross Taylor scored more than half of them with 74 before he was one of Craig Overton's four victims. Notts were invited to bat again and this time they did much better, with the opening pair putting on 145 before Jake Libby was trapped LBW. Mullaney hit 94 and Chris Nash scored 66 as Notts clawed their way back into the game. Samit Patel scored 55 and Tom Moores hit his first county championship hundred as he finished with 103. Roelof van de Merwe was the pick of the bowlers for the hosts taking four wickets from a mammoth 48 overs. All of which meant that Nottinghamshire manged to post 505, leaving Somerset with a tricky chase on a day four pitch. Renshaw top-scored again with 61 and even though Carter took three more wickets, Somerset took the victory by 6 wickets.

One Day Cup - Kent at Trent Bridge 14/06

Back to the 50 over competition and a quarter-final against Kent. Notts were put into bat and slumped to 23-4. Again, it was skipper Mullaney who had to come to the rescue as he top-scored with 90 runs. Some lower order hitting from Fletcher with 53 not out meant that Notts scrambled to 255-8. After already winning a couple of games this month with below par scores, Notts knew that they were still in the game but they needed some early breakthroughs. Sadly, they didn't get them as Daniel Bell-Drummond (79) and Heino Kuhn (124 not out) put on 194 for the opening wicket and Kent cantered to a nine wicket win, ending Nottinghamshire's reign as One Day Cup champions.

County Championship - Essex at The County Ground 20/06-23/06

With Steven Mullaney away captaining the England Lions, Chris Nash captained the side away at Essex and elected to bat first. After the stand-in skipper hit 51, it was the Ross Taylor show as the New Zealander score 146 taking Notts to 380, although the highlight was Harry Gurney hitting a six. Fletcher took 4-43 and Carter 4-34 as the hosts could only manage 206. Notts would build on their lead with Jake Libby hitting a half-century and Tom Moores scoring an impressive 87, despite an injury that would prevent him from keeping wicket in Essex's second innings. The youngster Tom Keast was given permission to take Moores' place behind the stumps and he took three catches. Matt Milnes took four wickets, including the prized scalp of England opener Alastair Cook. Fletcher, Carter and Samit Patel also took two wickets apiece as Notts triumphed by 301 runs, their first victory at Chelmsford since 1984.

County Championship - Worcestershire at Trent Bridge 25/06-28/06

For the next game, it was time to get the pink balls out as Worcestershire were the guests for a day-night game. The visitors decided to bowl first and were helpless as Libby (88) and skipper Nash (139) put on 164 for the first wicket. Patel (76), Wessels (75 not out) and Moores (56) added to the great start and Nottinghamshire declared on 499-9. Nash then took 2-4 including the wicket of top-scorer Ross Whiteley (76). Stuart Broad also took two wickets on a rare appearance but Harry Gurney was the pick of the attack with 4 wickets. Libby then took the bull by the horns hitting an unbeaten century. Patel (71) and Wessels (57 not out) gave him some great support and following some classic declaration bowling (Worcestershire used 8 bowlers!) Notts could declare again, this time on 249-4. That left the visitors needing an unlikely 462 to win the game. The more pertinent question was whether Notts could take 10 wickets - Fletcher managed three, as did Gurney but an amazing innings by Joe Clarke, scoring 177 not out, meant that Nottinghamshire were two wickets short of the win.

Duck of the Month: Riki Wessels against Durham. Wessels had a great month, scoring runs in both the county championship and the one day cup so I hope he doesn't mind us reminding him of his golden duck against Durham at the beginning of the month.

Player of the Month: Wessels was definitely in the running as was Chris Nash, who scored his first century for the club while captaining the team. However, this month it has to be Matt Carter. The youngster wasn't in the team at the beginning of the season but he took 13 wickets in the month, including match-winning figures against Durham and Derbyshire and four wickets in the first innings against Essex that set up a victory.

Just the two defeats in June makes a pretty good month, but one was in the cup and saw the holders go out. Twenty20 returns in July and another chance to retain a trophy that Notts won last season. As for the rest of the season, Nottinghamshire have announced the signing of South African international Quinton de Kock who will come in for the four of the last five county championship games, replacing Ross Taylor as the side's overseas player.

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