Nottinghamshire show ruthless form

Nottinghamshire 116 for 3 beat Yorkshire 112 for 7 by seven wickets
Scorecard

Nottinghamshire Outlaws will go into the quarter-finals of the Friends Provident t20 full of confidence after thrashing Yorkshire by seven wickets with 26 balls to spare at Trent Bridge.

Batting first on a slow pitch being used for the third time in 10 days, Yorkshire struggled to post a meaningful total after collapsing to 34 for 4 in the ninth over. They needed a battling 39 not out from Lee Hodgson on his t20 debut and 25 from Jonathan Bairstow to reach 112 for 7, while Ryan Sidebottom took 2 for 19 from his four overs.

And, although the hosts lost two early wickets of their own, Samit Patel's 40 off 27 balls and an unbeaten partnership of 52 from David Hussey (37 not out) and Alex Hales (27no) gave the hosts the momentum required to coast to victory.

Nottinghamshire, already assured of a home quarter-final going into the match, opted to rest overseas fast bowler Dirk Nannes for young seamer Luke Fletcher, who played his part in throttling the life out of the Yorkshire powerplay overs. First Sidebottom had Adam Lyth caught at gully for nought before Fletcher's slower ball fooled fellow opener Andrew Gale into slicing to point.

It took until the start of the fifth over for Yorkshire to hit their first boundary - Herschelle Gibbs pulling Sidebottom for four - but only four more fours and two sixes followed in the entire innings. Yorkshire were already out of the running for a quarter-final spot and opted to play three youngsters in Gary Ballance, Hodgson and Ben Sanderson - who had previously played one t20 match between them.

Hodgson's partnership of 39 for the fifth wicket with Bairstow ensured Yorkshire avoided their lowest-ever total in the competition, but 112 never looked like being enough once Patel hit Hodgson for three consecutive fours in the sixth over.

Legspinner Adil Rashid conceded 16 runs off his first over and, although Patel holed out to long-on off David Wainwright, Hussey joined Hales to finish off the chase. Rashid's return was greeted with a withering pull over long-on for six from Hussey, who then hit Hodgson for a further three fours and slammed Sanderson for a straight six to complete the game.