Mick Newell is preparing his charges for a bonanza of big hitting after naming a 14 man squad, including Jake Ball and Chris Read, ahead of the NatWest T20 Blast double header this weekend.
Ball returns to the fold fresh from being rested for the Specsavers County Championship match against Lancashire, and having been boosted by selection for the England squad to face Pakistan at Lord’s.
Read, meanwhile, stepped up his recovery from a hand injury by blazing a quick-fire half-century for the Second XI against Durham at Lady Bay.
With Luke Fletcher also back in contention following a groin injury and South Africa leg-spinner Imran Tahir awaiting his Outlaws T20 debut, Newell is faced with selection headaches ahead of the games against Northamptonshire and Worcestershire.
“It’s about getting the right number of fast bowlers into the team and keeping the right depth of batting,” he said.
“It’s quite important having people who can bat down to seven or eight but, at the same time, you need the quality of bowling.
“Having Imran Tahir, who can hopefully be key for us with the ball but is a number ten or 11, influences that selection.”
NatWest T20 Blast’s eagerly awaited return to Trent Bridge on Saturday is preceded by a Friday night trip to table-topping Northamptonshire, and Newell expects the best boundary hitters to prevail.
“I’m not surprised (to see them top of the table) because they’re very much focusing their season on T20 cricket,” he said.
“They’ve got some dynamic hitting batsmen, they’re a very aggressive team, as we saw in the 50-over match at Trent Bridge when they got to 420, so they’ve got all the right skills for a T20 team.
“It’s a huge challenge because they are full of confidence. They went to Edgbaston last week and won, and that’s a very hard place to go.
“There’s every chance of a high scoring game,” he continued.
“They come very hard with some strong batsmen. They’re not going to knock the ball around for ones and twos and run the ball around the field. They’ll look to smash it out of the ground.
“I see it as a boundary hitting game, potentially dangerous for all of the bowlers. Their top order and ours will be looking to go very hard from the word go.
“Who has the winning powerplay will be quite important, so the skill levels of the bowlers in trying to restrict that will be important, which all goes into the mix when you’re picking the team.”
Notts Outlaws squad to face Northamptonshire Steelbacks (from): Dan Christian (c), Jake Ball, Luke Fletcher, Harry Gurney, Brett Hutton, Michael Lumb, Steven Mullaney, Samit Patel, Chris Read, Greg Smith, Imran Tahir, Brendan Taylor, Riki Wessels and Sam Wood.
Notts Outlaws NatWest T20 Blast Fixtures & Ticket Information
Vs. Worcestershire Rapids – Saturday 9 July 2.30pm BUY TICKETS
Vs. Yorkshire Vikings – Friday 15 July 6.30pm BUY TICKETS
Vs. Leicestershire Foxes – Friday 29 July 6.30pm BUY TICKETS
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