Another instrumental Tom Moores half-century saw Notts Outlaws to a crucial 24-run Vitality Blast win away at North Group leaders Northants Steelbacks.
Moores, just six days on from hammering an unbeaten 74 from 33 balls to headline a victory over Bears at Edgbaston, struck 53 from 27 in Northampton as the Outlaws catapulted themselves back into quarter-final contention.
Posting 164-8 after winning the toss and opting to bat, with Moores crucial, Notts then bowled with mastery to dismiss the hosts, who had only lost one of seven to this point, for 140.
Matt Montgomery led the way with figures of 3/22, including the winning wicket in the final over, while Dillon Pennington, Daniel Sams, and Farhan Ahmed all returned two apiece.
On a surface that turned out to be deceptively harder to bat on than first appeared, Jack Haynes was the initial pacesetter, working hard for 32 from 26 balls to push the Outlaws on.
Having initially come up against a strong Steelbacks bowling performance, Haynes’ innings helped Notts to 77-3 after 11, before Moores took up the mantle for the latter stages.
He plundered five fours and three sixes, racing from 33 to 53 in the space of just four balls as one Luke Procter over went for 20, before falling to a David Willey catch at midwicket.
His innings, however, had seen Notts speed along from 91 after 13 overs to 131 from 16, with Liam Patterson-White and Calvin Harrison then trading sixes to finish strongly.
In all, 53 runs came off the last four overs, and they proved crucial as the visiting bowlers applied the squeeze early on to reduce the Steelbacks to 45-4 in the ninth over.
Pennington saw off Matthew Breetzke for two, caught by Sams, before Justin Broad was stopped in his tracks for 16 by Farhan Ahmed, with Haynes holding on.
Ahmed then came up with the goods again just three balls after claiming his first as Ricardo Vasconcelos was caught by Pennington for 18.
The spin continued to baffle Northants as veteran Ravi Bopara chipped a simple catch back to Harrison to depart for five, and the hosts looked troubled at 50-4 at halfway.
A partnership for the fifth wicket between Willey and Saif Zaib worth 35 raised home hopes, but Willey was removed by Montgomery for 20 to dampen them as quickly as they appeared.
Zaib continued on, but when he too fell for an innings top score of 37, this time to Pennington as Haynes took the catch, the hosts still required 40 from 19 balls.
It was a task that proved beyond them, as the returning Daniel Sams saw off Lewis McManus and Ben Sanderson to begin the process of writing on the wall.
Proceedings were then formally ended when Montgomery took the final two scalps with the first two balls of the final over, as Freddie McCann and Joe Clarke took catches.
From 125-5, Northants had imploded to lose their last five wickets for just 15 runs, handing the Outlaws a figuratively huge victory ahead of the Blast taking a two-week break.
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