The Notts Outlaws will begin the eagerly-awaited defence of their T20 Blast crown by hosting 2017 finalists Birmingham Bears on the 2018 competition’s opening day.

The re-match from Finals Day at Edgbaston in September – that saw Dan Christian’s Green and Golds triumph by 22 runs – gets the shortest format of the game up and running for the summer on Wednesday 4 July.

It is one of seven action-packed home games for the team at Trent Bridge between early July and mid-August in the North Group stages.

Three Friday night home games are scheduled against Leicestershire Foxes (20 July), Lancashire Lightning (27 July) and Yorkshire Vikings (10 August), while the Outlaws’ group games conclude against Yorkshire at Emerald Headingley on Friday 17 August.

Notts visit derby rivals Derbyshire Falcons at the 3aaa County Ground on Friday 13 July, with the return match at Trent Bridge on Thursday 2 August.

Should Notts get there, the quarter-finals will be played between Thursday 23 and Sunday 26 August, while Finals Day is Saturday 15 September.

“It’s a very exciting first fixture against Birmingham,” said Head Coach Peter Moores. “In fact, every time you look down those fixtures, you are excited about them, especially after this year.

“The atmosphere in the summer against Derbyshire was brilliant – it felt like a One-Day International.” Peter Moores.

“The lads know what it’s like to play in those latter stages and the excitement you can have from a big quarter and Finals Day. They are great games to be involved with.

“We saw last time in the T20 that you can a few make mistakes, which we did in getting beaten by Yorkshire and Birmingham in our first two games, but it’s how you come back from it that really matters.”

Moores is particularly looking forward to the home clash with Derbyshire where, in the corresponding 2017 fixture, the Outlaws enjoyed the support of their record crowd for a T20 fixture of 14,123.

He added: “The atmosphere in the summer against Derbyshire was brilliant – it felt like a One-Day International. It was helped that Derbyshire played some great cricket and it was a great game. We got a record total and they came close before we just won out.

“All those home games are ones to look forward to where you hope for big crowds, decent weather and some decent performances. We can’t wait for the matches to start coming around.”

Click here to view the full set of T20 Blast fixtures.

Don’t forget to check back on the website tomorrow at 11am when the full set of Nottinghamshire fixtures for 2018, including Specsavers County Championship and Royal London One-Day Cup, will be available.

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