Deja vu for Notts in last ball defeat
by Steve Williams, 22nd July 2003

Following Notts previous home NCL match against Middlesex, in which Notts went down off the final ball, the Outlaws repeated the feat, this time against Hampshire in the floodlit game Monday.

Notts won the toss and opened brightly, but lost 3 wickets in reaching 57. Kevin Pietersen then joined Russell Warren and the pair put on an excellent stand of 122 for the 4th wicket. Pietersen, lucky to survive a straight-forward boundary dropped catch, scored 58 in his customary manner, but it was Warren's innings that caught the eye.

When caught in the deep in the final over for 91, he had faced 112 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes. Notts, however, were grateful to Chris Read's sparkling cameo of 38 not out from just 20 balls, which ensured a useful total of 249 from their 45 overs. Mascarenhas was the pick of the bowlers, with 3-46.

The Hawks innings started with Hamblin surviving a high chance to Gallian at second slip in the first over. Although he did fall to Logan with the score at 51, Katich was playing some fluent cover drives, mainly off the wayward Logan. Indeed, it took a lengthy delay by the 3rd umpire to give the Australian run out for a fine 67 off 73 balls. The large crowd gave a huge cheer as the OUT sign blazed back at them from the giant replay screen left there from the Twenty20 Final on Saturday.

Kenway and Crawley, though, continued to keep up with the run rate and some slack bowling at times kept the visitors as favourites. Cairns and Smith bowled well at the death and the final over arrived with Hampshire requiring 7 for victory. Scampered runs left them needing 2 off the final ball - a similar number that Notts failed to get against Middlesex. This time, though, the batsmen managed to scramble home for both runs, to give the home fans yet another exciting but disappointing finish.

Wednesday sees the Outlaws take on the Scorpions at the County Ground in another floodlit game.