Hamish Rutherford and Wayne Madsen both hit fifty, but Derbyshire Falcons were narrowly edged out by two runs in a thrilling NatWest T20 Blast clash at Trent Bridge.
The New Zealander scored his first NatWest T20 Blast for the Falcons, hitting 62 from 47 balls, whilst Wayne Madsen hit an unbeaten 51 from 37 balls but Derbyshire could only manage 170-4 from their 20 overs, two runs short of Notts Outlaws’ 172-6.
Shiv Thakor was the star with the ball for Derbyshire, returning career-best figures of 3-25 to help Graeme Welch’s men restrict Notts despite half-centuries for Alex Hales and Samit Patel.
The Falcons got off to a good start with the ball as Thakor made the breakthrough with the first ball of the third over. Michael Lumb was enticed by the short leg-side boundary but could only chip Thakor straight to Billy Godleman who was stationed a few yards in from the rope.
Notts recovered from the early blow to finish the powerplay on 51-1 despite the final over of the powerplay, bowled by Thakor, going for just two singles.
Derbyshire found further reward for tight bowling two balls in to the seventh over when Riki Wessels, on 22, edged Greg Cork to Thakor at short third man who took a good diving catch. Upon his return to the first-team, Cork continued to bowl tightly alongside Alex Hughes with Notts failing to score a boundary for 32 balls to reach the halfway stage on 71-2.
Hales had opened for Notts and batted slowly at first before getting into his stride after the tenth to pass fifty from 33 balls. He and Patel had put on 68 for the third wicket but that stand was broken when Hales went for one heave too many and was caught on the boundary by Alex Hughes off Chesney Hughes for 54.
Much like Hales, Patel reached his fifty but fell almost immediately after. He holed out to Tom Knight on the mid-wicket rope for 52 to hand Thakor his second wicket.
He had James Taylor three balls later when the England International attempted to ramp him over the keeper’s head, but only managed to loop the ball into Tom Poynton’s hands for 12 as Thakor finished with impressive figures of 3-25.
The final wicket to fall was that of Steven Mullaney when Rimmington cleaned him up with the first ball of the last over as Notts posted 172-6 from their 20 overs.
Skipper Wes Durston got Derbyshire off to a bright start, hitting five fours in his innings of 22 from 10 balls but was caught at third man with the Falcons on 32-1 in the fourth.
The wicket of Durston did not faze Rutherford and he batted Derbyshire up to 58-1 after the powerplay having plundered Harry Gurney for 15 in the fifth over.
Some tight bowling after the powerplay – in addition to the wicket of Chesney Hughes for 14 – meant that Derbyshire reached the halfway stage of the chase on 83-2, needing another 90 runs from the final 10 overs for victory.
Rutherford continued to play well, alongside Wayne Madsen, and reached ffity from 40 balls during the 13th over of the match with Derbyshire on 108-2. Derbyshire continued to bat well and stay ahead of the Duckworth/Lewis par score and after 15 overs were 126-2 thanks to a half-century stand between Rutherford and Madsen.
A record crowd at Trent Bridge erupted when Rutherford fell during the 16th over – Jake Ball castling him for 62 to leave Derbyshire needing 42 to win from 27 balls.
Ball was the Man of the Match for Notts, as he took 3-36, including the wicket of Alex Hughes for 13 in the penultimate over as Derbyshire fell just short of their target.
There was time for Madsen to reach his first half-century of the NatWest T20 Blast campaign but it was Notts who took back the bragging rights after the Falcons’ earlier victory in the campaign.
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Derbyshire Falcons take on Worcestershire Rapids in the NatWest T20 Blast at The 3aaa County Ground on Friday 17 July; 7pm start. Buy your matchday tickets in advance & save £4!
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