Mullaney and Notts stay grounded

By Dave Bracegirdle

There were contrasting fortunes for two East Midlands rivals as this season's Friends Life t20 got under way at Grace Road. Defending champions Leicestershire failed to reach the heights of last season as they were skittled out for their lowest score in the competition.

The Foxes were unable to build a partnership of any substance and were bundled out for just 96 in 17.3 overs. Darren Pattinson claimed two early wickets, leaving Steven Mullaney to rip through the middle order with figures of 4 for 19, his best in the shortest format of that game.

After collecting the man-of-the-match award, Mullaney expressed his delight at the evening’s events. “Obviously it’s very nice to start with a win and personally very nice to start with four wickets. The wicket was obviously conducive to seam bowling and a little bit of ‘nibble-around’ and I just tried to vary my pace as much as I could to keep the batsmen guessing.”

Mullaney felt that Pattinson’s early blast had made his job easier. “Those two key wickets made it easier for me when I came on and they were big wickets as well. Josh Cobb can be very dangerous – he’s proved that over the last couple of years, so it was nice to get him early after he’d hit a couple of boundaries and then he got Jacques du Toit out, who has hit a century against us in the past.”

The 25-year-old believes in the old-fashioned virtues of bowling full and straight, hoping that the batsmen will be restricted to playing in the ‘V’.
 
“It’s not usually like that any more,” he added. “Some people like to hoick you over square leg and in different areas but it’s a game that can come and bite you on the bum very quickly, so I’m not going to get too far ahead of myself. I’ll keep my feet on the ground and hope to go again against Derbyshire on Friday.”

The Outlaws raced to their victory target in just thirteen overs, to win by six wickets, with Michael Lumb ending on an undefeated 25, the highest score of the opening evening.

Mullaney admits his side have made a decent start this time around but knows there is a long way to go in this year’s tournament.
“We pride ourselves on our performances fielding-wise, and I think we’ve played very good cricket for the last two seasons but it’s just been that clinical part where we need to keep performing in the group stages and then go on and do it in the quarter finals. This year we want to get to the final and win it.”


Date: 13/06/2012 09:12:05 by Dave Bracegirdle
In: Today | Nottinghamshire | Leicestershire |