Notts Outlaws are back in action tonight as they take on Yorkshire Vikings in the opening round of the Vitality Blast live on Sky Sports at 6:35pm.<\/p>\n
Captain Dan Christian will lead out his team at an empty Headingley in what will be his sixth year in green and gold as he skippers a 14 man squad that will try and go two steps further than what they achieved at finals day last year.<\/p>\n
The 2019 competition saw Notts lose agonisingly in the semi-finals against Worcestershire as they fell one run short of reaching a second final in three years but with good history in a format that suits the style of Christian and co Notts will hope to be one of the forerunners again this time around.<\/p>\n
The 2017 winners will be one of the favourites again this summer with the return of Alex Hales and Luke Fletcher boosting a squad that in four matches failed to win a red ball game in the Bob Willis Trophy although seamer Harry Gurney is out with a shoulder injury so will miss this weekends opening round of fixtures.<\/p>\n
On coming back to Notts for this seasons T20 competition Christian said \u201cThis is comfortably the longest I\u2019ve spent at a club as an overseas player.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be going into my sixth season here is something I\u2019m really proud of. I\u2019m really proud of the success we\u2019ve had as a club over that period, and that\u2019s why I keep coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the ground, I\u2019ve made some really good friends here and I love Nottingham, so it\u2019s always been a really easy decision to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Australian born all rounder furthered \u201cThere\u2019s a really positive feel around the group already, because the guys have been playing some good cricket in the past few weeks \u2013 even if they\u2019ve not put the wins on the board in those four-day games.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re certainly out to win the Blast, and I genuinely think we can. I don\u2019t think we played anywhere near our best cricket last year, but we got to Finals Day and should have won that semi-final.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the experience and the hurt of losing that semi last year, we\u2019ll all be keen to turn that around. Those kinds of feelings \u2013 of wanting to right a wrong \u2013 can really drive you on.\u201d<\/p>\n
The North Group match against Yorkshire begins a bank holiday weekend of three games for the Outlaws with a trip to Durham on Saturday followed by a home match against the Vikings on Monday with the top two in each of the three groups qualifying for the quarter finals with the two best performing third placed teams.<\/p>\n
Notts squad to face Yorkshire is as follows: Dan Christian, Jake Ball, Matthew Carter, Tom Barber, Zak Chappell, Joe Clarke, Ben Duckett, Luke Fletcher, Tom Moores, Steven Mullaney, Peter Trego, Chris Nash, Samit Patel, Alex Hales.<\/p>\n