Mick Newell has praised the winning mentality of his “maverick” captain Dan Christian, ahead of Monday’s NatWest T20 Blast quarter-final against Essex.
Installed as T20 skipper during the close season, Christian has led from the front by averaging in excess of 50 with the bat, whilst maintaining a remarkable strike-rate of over 170.
“He’s here to win. He feels the glory of winning and the pain of defeat as much as any of us, and that’s a fantastic attitude to have as an overseas player,” said the Director of Cricket.
“He’s a bit of a maverick as a captain. He does things his own way and comes up with ideas on the field that we haven’t always discussed and planned, and that’s fine.
“You don’t make him captain and then tell him what to do. I think he leads the guys very, very well.
“He’s a very good fielder and he’s commanding a huge amount of respect from the team for his performances.”
Newell, meanwhile, believes the sheer length of the Notts Outlaws' batting could hold the key to last eight victory.
Batsmen as far down the order as Chris Read at number eight have played match-winning hands during the eight game unbeaten run that saw the Outlaws safely through to the last eight as North Group winners.
“You don’t want to be relying on one or two players - we’ve got a top-eight who are all very confident with the bat,” he said.
“They’ve all made major contributions. That’s very pleasing and we know when it comes to the quarter-final it will be somebody’s night – and it won’t be everybody’s night.
“It was a minimum to qualify and we’ve achieved that. Now we want to push on.
“It’s fantastic to top the group and get a home quarter-final, six years out of seven is a great thing to do.”
Newell believes the turning point in his side’s campaign was a last gasp victory over the Lancashire Lightning; the Outlaws’ first white ball victory of 2016 having begun the tournament with back to back losses.
“Whilst we didn’t want to panic at that stage, it was important that we improved quickly – and we’ve done that,” he said.
“It was certainly a turning point, a freakish event that happens so rarely when you get given six extra runs because of a slow over rate,” said Newell.
“We may look back on that and hopefully, at the end of the season, we’ll say that was a trigger-point for much improvement.”
Notts Outlaws will face the Essex Eagles in the quarter-final of the NatWest T20 Blast, with a 6.30pm start on Monday 8 August at Trent Bridge, and tickets are on sale now.