Essex Eagles head into the NatWest T20 Blast Quarter-Finals on Monday evening at Trent Bridge to face Notts Outlaws.
The men from Nottingham have been struggling for form in the Royal London One-Day Cup and Specsavers County Championship formats but finished top of the South group in the shortest form of the game, after recording 8 victories and 2 defeats.
Like their Quarter-Final opponents, Notts Outlaws started the campaign with a defeat succumbing to a defeat against Birmingham Bears at Trent Bridge, which was to be their only defeat at home in the competition this year.
Following back-to-back defeats in the opening two fixtures, the Outlaws bounced back and recorded 3 wins in the months of May and June. West Indian, Andre Russell helped the cause with bat and ball in the two matches he played (56 runs and 4 wickets).
The team were unbeaten for the remainder of the competition, ending with 3 victories against Yorkshire, Warwickshire and Leicestershire to earn a home Quarter-Final.
Riki Wessels has been a revelation this season and is the Club’s leading run scorer with 360 runs from his 10 innings with a 45.00 average. The Australian born, wicket-keeper batsman top scored against Worcestershire with 80* off a staggering 35 balls. This knock, included a 17-ball half century which is the fastest of the tournament this season.
The Outlaws have been captained by Overseas player, Dan Christian in 2016 who has also been impressive with the bat, hitting 304 from 9 innings. The big-hitting Australian has hit the most sixes in the squad with 23.
Three bowlers have been ever-present for Nottinghamshire with Harry Gurney leading the wicket-taking totals with 14 victims. Gurney has been supported by the experienced Samit Patel (12) and Steven Mullaney (10).
