Fixtures announcement sees Nottinghamshire CCC heading to Hove for season opener

The forthcoming campaign will see Steven Mullaney’s men once again compete in the LV= Insurance County Championship, the Royal London Cup and the Vitality Blast.

“With the squad roughly halfway through our winter programme, you can’t underestimate the boost we get from getting our eyes on the fixtures and being able to focus on that first game of the season,” said Nottinghamshire assistant head coach Paul Franks.

“We’re looking forward to six months of tough, uncompromising and ultimately entertaining cricket for our members and supporters to enjoy, and there are ambitions for us to achieve across three different formats of the game.

“The Championship is a test of your ability across the whole season and a format in which we are hugely focussed on continuing our progression.

“Alongside that, we continue to pride ourselves on being a strong white ball side; one that can compete with and beat the best sides in the country in T20 cricket in particular.

“We also showed throughout last year’s 50-over competition that we are producing ever more players who are capable of making an impact at first team level, and there’s a real incentive to perform with the final taking place at Trent Bridge.

“Whatever the format or location, our members and supporters can be sure that we’ll have a squad of players and coaches giving it everything to represent them in the best way possible, and to be successful.”

Five red-ball contests are scheduled for the summer months of June and July, two of them at Trent Bridge, with the remainder of the 14 matches to be played across April, May and September.

The T20 competition will commence its 20th edition in late May, taking in 14 group stage fixtures and culminating with Finals Day at Edgbaston on Saturday, 16th July.

The Royal London Cup, with its group stages and initial knockout rounds contested during the month of August, will see its final staged at Trent Bridge for the second time on Saturday, 17th September.

Notts, who won seven and drew five of their 15 First-Class games in 2021, will limber up for the competitive action by welcoming Loughborough UCCE to Trent Bridge for a three-day game starting on Tuesday, 22nd March.

This will be followed by a pair of two-day friendlies against Warwickshire at Trent Bridge and versus Derbyshire at the Incora County Ground, starting on 26th and 29th March respectively.

The Green and Golds then begin their Division Two campaign at Hove against Sussex on Thursday, 7th April, before Trent Bridge’s County Championship seasonal premiere comes with the visit of Glamorgan a week later.

Trips to the North East to face Durham and Lord’s to face Middlesex, together with visits from Worcestershire and Derbyshire, close out the opening block of red ball fixtures.

On 27th May, Notts Outlaws will commence their quest for a 12th T20 quarter-final berth in 13 years as they open their campaign by hosting Worcestershire Rapids; the first of three Friday night fixtures at the county’s historic home.

The tournament’s second home fixture against Northamptonshire Steelbacks two days later will form a double header alongside Lightning versus Southern Vipers in the women’s competition, the Charlotte Edwards Cup.

Lightning, who represent the East Midlands region, will play six regular season games in the T20 tournament from mid-May with the final taking place at Northampton on 11th June. They will also compete in the 50-over Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy during the latter part of the summer.

Nottinghamshire's County Championship fixtures on the road against Leicestershire and versus Middlesex at Trent Bridge nestle in alongside the Blast in June, before the T20 tournament’s group stage concludes against Worcestershire at New Road on Sunday, 3rd July.

Three further County Championship rounds take place together with the knockout stages of the Blast in July, before the eight-match group stage of the Royal London Cup sees the Outlaws in action at Trent Bridge, Welbeck and Grantham during the month of August.

The 50-over competition’s quarter and semi-finals are scheduled for 26th and 30th August respectively, with the winner qualifying for the mid-September showpiece in Nottingham.

The final three rounds of the County Championship also take place in September with home matches against Leicestershire and Durham bookending a trip to New Road to face Worcestershire.