Three wickets from Steven Mullaney and a hefty batting contribution from Joe Clarke meant the Notts Outlaws took a 22-run victory at Leicestershire Foxes.

Victory at the Uptonsteel County Ground saw Notts end the day second in the Vitality Blast North Group, on the same points as the Birmingham Bears in top spot.

72 runs for Clarke, 28 from Colin Munro and 21 from Matt Montgomery helped the Outlaws to 165/8, before the Foxes could only manage 143/8 in their innings.

The clouds cleared at the County Ground as Notts won the toss and elected to bat first.

Notts made 33 before Alex Hales was clean-bowled by Callum Parkinson halfway through the third over, with Munro joining Clarke in the middle and upping the assertiveness, sending a monstrous six over the head of bowler Matt Salisbury.

That contribution from Munro saw the Outlaws end the powerplay on 60/1.

Clarke had joined the fun too, hitting his own maximum beyond the large boundaries at the Uptonsteel County Ground.

And though Munro departed, Clarke's ball-striking only became more venomous as he passed fifty off 32 balls.

His next six was rocketed to the leg side, almost flying out of the ground altogether. The third was just as entertaining, conjuring up a replica of the Munro maximum that started the spectacle.

That would be Clarke’s last action at the crease, however, as the opener was caught by Patel off the bowling of Scriven for an explosive 72 runs.

Montgomery also found the boundary on multiple occasions but was foiled for 27 after trying to strike his third of the game.

The wickets began to fall quickly after that, with Scriven being especially troublesome for the Outlaws' middle order.

The away side continued to accumulate, however, and ended their innings at 165/8.

Notts limited Leicestershire to 42 without loss by the end of the powerplay, and wickets would begin to be taken shortly after.

Mullaney got the first two wickets off his opening overs, with Moores stumping Handscomb for 28 and Montgomery diving spectacularly to dismiss Patel for nine respectively.

Three more arrived in the following triplet of overs, as Harrison removed Welch for 32 and Ahmed for 3, with Mullaney splitting Harrison’s pair with a freakish caught and bowled.

The captain’s delivery was sent back towards him by Ackermann, but Mullaney managed to deflect the ball off the chest of Mulder at the non-striker's end, before finally getting a firm grip to remove the Foxes stalwart for three.

With the match moving further into the Outlaws’ control, Scriven sent Jake Ball’s delivery skyward, with a grateful Hales grasp sending the right-hander packing for five.

And Shaheen Afridi capped off a solid Notts performance, clean-bowling both Mulder and Finan in the final over to end Leicestershire’s innings on 143/8; the Outlaws winning by 22 runs.

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