Chris Cairns hit 50 as Notts Outlaws rocketed to the top of the Northern Division of the Twenty20 Cup with an assured win over Leicestershire Foxes at Trent Bridge.

Cairns came to the crease with Notts 46-3 and played patiently to make his half century before he was caught by Dipenaar at mid-wicket.

Bilal Shafayat made 27 alongside the big hitting New Zealander, and Chris Read (29) and Mark Ealham (9) finished the job.

"It was great win and a pretty adept performance in all departments," said Cairns.

"We were disappointed after the Derby defeat but this is the best way to put that behind us and we have shown that we are real competitiors in this division."

Will Jefferson had got Notts back on track after the early losses of Adam Voges and Samit Patel but missed a straight ball from Kruger which went on to hit middle stump having scored five fours on his way to 26.

Patel was bowled second ball by Nadeem Malik for nought while Voges was caught behind by Foxes captain Paul Nixon off Dillon du Preez.

Notts needed 42 runs from the final four overs and reached their target in style, the charge punctuated by a huge six to the Fox Road boundary from Read and a deft reverse sweep from Cairns to the Pavillion for four.

Rob Ferley and Samit Patel each took two wickets as Notts restricted Leicestershire to 149, HD Ackerman top-scoring with 55.

Jacques du Toit was run out by a fine direct hit from Patel and after Nixon was caught by Shafayat, the Foxes’ run rate fell quickly.