Steven Mullaney praised the record breaking 13,582 Trent Bridge crowd for creating an international atmosphere after Notts Outlaws won a last ball thriller by two runs against Derbyshire.
The Outlaws all-rounder pegged the Falcons back from a flying start in pursuit of 173 to win with figures of 1-23 off four overs before Jake Ball and Harry Gurney closed out the game under pressure at the death.
The thrilling victory kept Notts’ quarter-final hopes alive and Mullaney was in no doubt that the partisan crowd had a part to play in the win.
“I’d like to go on record to say that the lads really appreciate the support, especially after some bad performances.
“To have over 13,000 was absolutely phenomenal. You could feel it out there, we had 12 on the pitch with their support.
“It was an unbelievable atmosphere to play in-front of. Hopefully we can repay them by winning the next three and getting a quarter-final.
“We had an idea it was going to be a big one with it being the last game of the tournament against our local rivals, but it was rocking out there.
“I can only imagine that’s as close to international cricket as you can get. It was out of this world and we really appreciate it.”
Ball’s career best figures of 3-36, and an ice cool final over from Gurney defending eleven runs to win, took Notts over the finish line and Mullaney was full of praise for his side’s pace bowling duo.
“I didn’t really enjoy those last two overs but Jake and Harry were out of this world under pressure,” Mullaney said.
“With Wayne Madsen playing well, they showed unbelievable guts. It was a phenomenal performance from them.
“In my opinion Harry and Luke Fletcher are the two best death bowlers in England. I’m biased because I play for the same team as them, but I can’t stress the amount of practice they do and how annoyed they get when they miss their yorkers by a millimetre.
“Harry’s my best mate. I give him a bit of stick now and again, but I also give him praise when he does well. I was over the moon for him today and was the first one to give him a massive hug.”
Mullaney revealed that Notts treated today’s local derby at Trent Bridge as a sudden death fixture, and he admits they still have it all to do to qualify for the last eight.
“We’ve got a white board in the dressing room and we wrote on it that we’ve got four finals,” he said.
“One is out of the way and, to do it under that pressure will stand us in good stead for later in the tournament.
“In Twenty20 cricket we’ve been winning a game then losing a couple. Now we’ve won this game, we’ve won it under pressure and, going into this stage of the competition, you need to be the form team.
'We’ve got three really tough games, we’ve got to go away in all three and we’ve got to play well.”
Notts Outlaws will next be in action with the return of 50-over cricket for the Royal London One Day competition throughout July and August starting with a weekend at Welbeck Cricket Club. Don't miss out on the next step of our summer of cricket and secure your seats now.