Steven Mullaney said he enjoyed batting at the top of the order after scoring a century to help the Outlaws overcome Warwickshire by 57 runs at the 3Ws Oval on Saturday.

Mullaney scored 116 from 65 balls, before being dismissed from the penultimate delivery of the innings.

A winner in each of Notts’ two cup triumphs on the island, Mullaney was delighted to begin the tournament strongly again.

“Obviously it was very nice to get the opportunity to bat up the order with Michael (Lumb) and Alex (Hales) not being here with us this time,” he said.

“I enjoyed opening, when I got the chance last year and to bat with Greg, who I get along with really well, was nice today. I’m pleased to get a few and to hit some out of the middle.”

The catalyst for the win was the opening partnership of 58, with 50 coming in the powerplay overs.

“We realised it was a bit of a sticky wicket and that we needed to get off to a steady start and put them under pressure. I think we’d got 35 after five overs and we decided to target the sixth because we knew how important the powerplay was, so we really went after it in that over and luckily it came off.”

Mullaney cleared the ropes on five occasions, a couple of them going out of the ground and over the road.

“I was just trying to be clever really and hit it with the big wind that was blowing that way,” he revealed. “I tried to hit it with that as much as I could, keep working the gap on the other side and look for the boundary option on the shorter of the two sides.”

Mullaney confirmed that the dressing room is keen to complete a third successive tournament victory after qualifying for the final four.

“Barbados is a place we love coming back to and this is a tournament we’ve done really well in," he said. "We’re all very much for winning it for a third time.

“It doesn’t matter who we play, we just know that if we win two games we win it again."

The excitement of the NatWest T20 Blast returns to Trent Bridge in May as Notts Outlaws hope to break the 10,000 barrier for the arrival of reigning champions Birmingham Bears on Friday 15 May.

Adult tickets are available at a special price of £10 and further discounts in place for under 16s (£5), under21s (£7) and senior citizens (£7) when buying in advance. Make Trent Bridge a firm fixture for your Friday nights and secure your seats now.