As Blast Off hits Trent Bridge for 2025, read on for a breakdown of the opening tie between Notts Outlaws and Bears - by the numbers.
FIVE ON A FRIDAY
In a good omen, Friday is the most successful day for the Outlaws against Bears, having won five of the eight matches that have been played on a Friday between the sides.
The first game on a Friday was in June 2011, when the Outlaws triumphed by ten runs at Trent Bridge, thanks to 67 off 40 from Alex Hales and Samit Patel’s unbeaten 37 from 26.
339 RUNS FOR THE SKIPPER
Patel is the leading run-scorer for the Outlaws in this fixture overall, with 435, but the highest-ranked active Notts player is captain Joe Clarke, who has 339 in nine games against Bears.
Clarke has twice scored above 80 against the West Midlands outfit, with his unbeaten 89 from 53 deliveries at Edgbaston in 2023 being the highest score by an Outlaw overall against Bears.
THRICE ABOVE 200
Clarke’s knock two summers ago, coupled with 87 from New Zealander Colin Munro, propelled Notts to 214-3 in that game.
That was one of three occasions the Outlaws have hit more than 200 against Bears, with the others - 211-9 and 206 all out - coming in 2021 and 2022, respectively, both at Trent Bridge.
CALVIN’S EIGHT WICKETS
A match that was comparatively lower-scoring, certainly on the part of Bears, was also in 2021, when Calvin Harrison, then a virtually-unknown quantity, claimed figures of 4/17 to bowl the hosts out for just 63 at Edgbaston.
Harrison has eight scalps overall in the fixture at an average of just 19, marking him out as the man with the most wickets for Notts against Bears who is still active in the fixture.
BEARS ALL OUT FOR 63
That game on a balmy Birmingham night in 2021, when Harrison spun his web, resulted in the lowest total by Bears against Notts in this fixture.
The visitors had set 177-9, but the game was never in doubt from the time Jake Ball - whose 18 wickets make him the leading overall bowler in this fixture altogether - had run through the top order, with Harrison cleaning up the tail.
