Riki Wessels, the 29-year-old batsman who will open the innings for the Notts Outlaws in Monday’s Royal London One-Day Cup Semi-Final against Surrey, will do so with 1,708 domestic runs already to his name in 2015.

Last season, he finished the campaign with 1,904 and was the Club’s Player of the Year. It’s a tally he’s likely to beat in 2015.

Match changing performances with the bat, in all formats, have become as reliable as his  effervescent fielding.

He’s become a leader within the group, captaining the side upon occasion, and now finds himself at the top of the one-day order, a challenge he is relishing having topped the Outlaws’ run-scoring chart in the NatWest T20 Blast with 439 at a batting index of 184.

In 50 over cricket, Wessels’ has played a stable supporting hand alongside the fireworks of Alex Hales or at times Dan Christian.

However, with 396 runs at an average of 50, including a century against Middlesex at Lord’s, only Hales and James Taylor have scored more for Notts in the competition.

The secret to two seasons of success; Weasels puts it solely down to staying injury free, tweaking his technique and getting a shot at batting at the top of the order.

“It’s been the first two seasons that I’ve had virtually injury free, touch wood,” he said. 

“I’ve been able to get going and keep the momentum going, where as in previous years I had been in and out of the side quite regularly.

“Also just tweaking things over the winter, not so much this last winter but at the end of 2013 moving into last year, I changed a few things technically and they seemed to work for me.

“I’m not surprised because I’ve batted five, six and seven,” Wessels continued, referring to his career List A average of a shade below 29.

“My strike rate would be close to a hundred, although that may have dipped batting at the top of the order this year.

“This is the first chance I’ve had to do that and it’s nice to get that opportunity. When we won the trophy in 2013 with David Hussey and those guys, there wasn’t much option other than batting at six.”

A quirk of the fixture list left the Outlaws without any first team cricket during the 13 days following the quarter-final victory over Durham, and Wessels was thankful for the opportunity to rest and recuperate.

“I had a couple of days off over the bank holiday to recharge the batteries for the final three weeks of the season, three very important weeks,” he said.

“I get six months off in the winter to be a family man. This is the business end of the season now, but three days off were appreciated.”

With Hales unavailable for selection for the first time in the tournament, Michael Lumb, who made his return from a thumb injury in the Second XI this week, is likely to get the nod to partner Wessels at the top of the Outlaws’ order against Surrey. 

It means he’s likely to venture to the non-strikers end at the start of the innings, but the Queensland born batsman is too practical a thinker for that to matter, and he believes that Lumb - who has 30 limited-overs caps for England - is the perfect replacement for his established partner.

“It seems to come to the crunch end of the season and you lose your form players,” said Wessels on the unavailability of Taylor and Hales.

“We had it last season against Durham with Hales and Gurney in the semi-final and they managed to get Stokes back.

“That’s the way it goes. They’ve been a big part of our white ball team over the last few weeks, but it’s a chance for someone to step up.

“Lumby has been out for a while with a broken thumb. To have him available to replace Titch (Taylor) and Baz (Hales) is nice.

“Alex has got a phobia about facing the first ball, so I always end up doing that.

“Lumby is the other way, he likes to face first ball, so that will be the biggest change for me.

“It’s immaterial to me, the first over you’re taking a look anyway, it’s just about what makes batsmen feel more comfortable out in the middle.” 

 

Notts Outlaws squad to face Surrey (from): Jake Ball, Stuart Broad, Dan Christian, Harry Gurney, Brett Hutton, Jake Libby, Michael Lumb, Steven Mullaney, Samit Patel, Chris Read, Greg Smith, Brendan Taylor, Riki Wessels, Luke Wood and Sam Wood.

 

Follow the live scorecard, regular text updates and radio commentary on Monday through your perfect match-day companion Trent Bridge Live.

 

Trent Bridge will host One-Day Internationals against Sri Lanka and Pakistan in 2016. Sign up here to be the first to hear about fixture and ticketing information for these two matches.