Test and T20 has Notts aglow

Nottinghamshire supporters may be forgiven a bit of gloating after stealing the FLt20 limelight and basking in England's Ashes win. (First published on ESPN Cricinfo Supporter's Network)

"Any danger of anyone actually giving us a game in this season's T20?" I shot off into the Twittersphere.

"It's OK, you'll bottle it eventually," came a jealous response from a Leicestershire-supporting mate.

There's an uncharacteristically arrogant swagger amongst us Notts fans right now, five games into the T20 season, as four comfortable wins have fired the Outlaws into second in the North Group, with two games in hand on Lancashire. We are now seen as the team to beat and, if the opening fortnight is anything to go by, the Outlaws may as well put in a request to the tournament organisers that they change the rules to a 20/18 format, just to give the opposition a chance.

Okay, the cockiness may have gone too far now. Although for proof, Notts have only needed a maximum of 17.4 overs to chase any target this season, and that was a blistering 184 in the season's opener against the Foxes.

At the heart of the superb start to the season is the return as captain of Australia's David Hussey, who for the past ten years has been a great servant to the club. Any T20 fan will know what he is capable of with the bat and, indeed the ball, however it's his leadership that marks him out as a top player.

The field seems to know what to do and where to be in every situation, there isn't the need for him to talk to the bowler about what he wants from every ball (an increasingly annoying habit amongst some captains), and you can tell younger players such as James Taylor, Alex Hales and Jake Ball learn from his calm approach each game.

I have to admit, I was one of the many moaners that thought the two-game England T20 series against New Zealand was pointless. And although only one really got played, I shifted my views in a drastically different direction when I saw how Hales and Michael Lumb played in the first match against Leicestershire. That one international game has given Hales back his belief, having scored a good 39, but it also got Lumb's T20 eye in before the domestic competition started, and his form since has been outstanding.

Lumb capped off an excellent opening fortnight with 96 from 52 balls against Durham, the highest-ever score from a Notts player in this format. Though Lumb was initially disappointed that he didn't get his ton, he effectively won the match with the knock.

As for Hales, his rotten season seems to have turned around with a couple of decent innings in the competition. As an international and domestic opening companion for Lumb, dislodging either of them is a daunting task for any bowling attack.

Due to their distinctly average form in the County Championship, it seems likely that Notts will only be challenging in the one-day competitions. Questions may be raised in the coming weeks if the four-day form doesn't turn around - last week's game ending in a draw against Surrey was the fifth on the bounce. Enough to stay up, you'd expect, but not quite the Championship challenge the club was hoping at the start of the season. This week's game against Warwickshire is a chance to turn their mediocre form around.

Whether T20 momentum can translate into the other formats remains to be seen but the positive innings in recent weeks would have done them the world of good.

It would be remiss of me to not mention, as a Notts fan, the small matter of the opening Ashes Test at Trent Bridge. Of course there was Nottinghamshire interest in Messrs Swann and Broad but, as we saw, the atmosphere was phenomenal, the cricket was superb and the tension was, at times, unbearable. The city was transformed this week because of cricket and it is down to Notts to now pick up where the England boys left off.

The seats have been warmed with crowds of over 7,500 in the FLt20 against Leicestershire and the YB40 against Sussex - in which a superb £1 advance ticket offer was taken up by thousands - and the five days of the Test were a sell-out. So, apologies for the smugness, but a club should be applauded when it is going well. As Trent Bridge bathes in sunlight this week, let's hope Nottinghamshire can bask in the limelight once more.

Questions of the high order for Notts

The concern over the top three will become more vociferous should they continue to fail, but when the rest of the team keeps digging in and doing the business with the ball, Notts look good to continue their fine form. (First published on ESPN Cricinfo Supporter's Network)

I enter through the back door to get into the fan's forum on day two of the County Championship game against Surrey. Late as usual, I arrive just in time to see an old lady take to her feet, glaring at Notts coach Mick Newell. "Why can't our openers bat?" she asks, bluntly.

Fair point, I think to myself, as Newell begins to explain how the openers need to find a bit of form, how they haven't got it quite right so far this season, before adding that we actually haven't been blessed with 200-run opening partnerships since the days of Gallian and Bicknell.

It is a growing concern, that aside from an excellent knock of 81 from Ed Cowan against Sussex and Michael Lumb's superb 135 last week against Yorkshire, the top three have just three scores of over 50 between them in the previous eight County Championship innings.

Alex Hales' form is obviously the standout blip in the team. On a wicket that saw 1,120 runs in Scarborough, Hales was out for a duck in the first innings, and just 5 in the second. He is currently averaging 11.83 in 12 innings in the County Championship, and there are growing calls from some fans to push Hales down the order to find some form. I'm backing him to do so soon - he has been proven to do it in the past, and it was good to see Cowan saying Hales has the backing of the dressing room to come good soon.

But while Hales still has a way to come, there are a few players who have really kick-started their season in recent weeks.

Where better to start than Samit Patel, whose magnificent innings of 157 against Sussex was complemented with a couple of wickets and extremely tight bowling on the fourth day to secure the draw for Notts. That game was Patel's finest this season, and though he has scored higher this season (256 against Durham MCCU), his first innings knock came at a crucial time - Notts had lost their first three wickets cheaply, and Chris Jordan was ripping through the batting order as if they weren't there.

And while Patel may not have a great average when it comes to bowling this season, the wickets he's taken have been vital - he's claimed Luke Wells on 59, Gary Wilson on 49, and Gareth Batty on 41 in recent weeks, showing he is certainly the first option to throw the ball to when the seamers are struggling with batsmen who are staying put.

Another allrounder who has continued to shine is Paul Franks. I made a point in my previous blog on how he has lingered in the second XI for large parts of the season, but since the England boys have departed he has been one of Notts' star men. He's shown his class with the ball and added a superb 78 against Sussex meaning he is now averaging above the likes of Chris Read and Hales. As Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann look set to be gone for the most part of the season, Franks and Harry Gurney have really stepped up to the mark - a special mention should also be inserted here for Gurney, who, against Sussex, took Notts' first hat-trick since 2006.

Finally, the mercurial talent of Ajmal Shahzad has finally flourished over the past month. I think it's fair to say he has faced some murmurs of unease in the stands of Trent Bridge since his signing in the winter. I've even heard someone describe him as the "Balotelli of cricket", which, despite making me laugh, is hugely unfair. But no-one can criticise his efforts in the opening parts of the season, and though he didn't start convincingly, he's shown in recent weeks the class that Notts brought him into the club for. He's taken three wickets in each of the last three innings, and hit an excellent 56 against Sussex, including a hundred partnership with Patel, which suggests he is also finding form with the bat.

So, many reasons to be cheerful as a Notts fan currently. Unlucky to not claim the win against table-toppers Sussex, a good draw against Yorkshire on a flat pitch, five wins from five in the YB40 and coping well in the absence of the England stars. Questions will become more vociferous should the top order continue to fail, but when the rest of the team keeps digging in and doing the business with the ball, Notts look good to continue their fine form.

Notts find one-day could be their way

After a shaky start in the Championship and a perfect opening to the YB40, one-day cricket could be Notts' best chance of silverware this season. (Published for ESPN Cricinfo Supporter's Network)

They say three is a magic number, and last Sunday saw Nottinghamshire pull off their very own hat trick, as they made it three wins from three matches in the YB40, leaving them top of Group A and finding themselves pondering whether the one-day format could be the way to go this season.

Mick Newell said prior to the start of the season that the County Championship was still the priority, but judging on performances in that format compared to those over the past week, fans may rightly be thinking that the best chance of silverware this season may be in the limited-over competitions.

What was so pleasing last week was the ease in which runs seem to be coming - one only has to observe how fine innings from the ever-impressive James Taylor, consistent Samit Patel, super-smashing Alex Hales and steady Riki Wessels have all guided the Notts side to victory in the YB40.

Juxtapose that against the long haul of the four day Championship and, as a team, they have struggled to find any consistency on good batting wickets in their opening three games - shown by the winning margins of Middlesex and Durham - nine and six wickets respectively.

Obviously when you mention how well the top order have been doing so far, some bloke next to you will inevitably turn to you and say that "it means zilch if the bowlers can't bowl, young man."

Fortunately for said bloke, we've seen the perfect complement so far with the Notts bowlers all chipping in when they need to. Jake Ball has bowled tightly and picked up valuable wickets, Swanny has inevitably shown his class coming back from injury, and Stephen Mullaney's four wicket haul against Kent is arguably the performance of the season in all formats so far.

Of course the four-day competition is still the one most counties would like to excel in, but I do not see any reason how this talented all-round Notts side could not be serious challengers in the one-day formats. And why not relish it? It's been 22 years since they have had any real success in a limited over competition - if you count the 1991 Refuge Assurance League as a success - and you'll have to go back a couple more years to find Notts' name at the top of the pile in the Benson & Hedges Cup. They came close in 2008, but since then a finals day in the T20 competition in 2010 has been the closest they've come.

With the Ashes contingent soon to depart, I fear this Notts side may not have enough to challenge in the County Championship, but the strength they've shown in the opening week of the YB40 suggests to me that they can succeed even without the likes of Swann, Cowan and Broad.

It says a lot about the team's form when the only outstanding concern you can point out is the form of Michael Lumb, who, having had a decent spell at the Big Bash, promised bigger things in our one-day competition, but has so far stuttered to scores of just 5, 11, and a duck on Sunday. I'm confident he'll turn it around soon, but so far his saving grace is his magnificent 123 against Durham in the County Championship, albeit those efforts were in vain.

Maybe I'm getting carried away with the start Notts have had in the YB40, and maybe we fans should say a collective thank you to Messrs Duckworth and Lewis for their algorithmic assistance to help with the victories against Worcestershire and Kent. But remember this time last season, when we'd just lost to a Scotland team who claimed what became their only victory in the whole season?

This season has started at a lightning pace for Nottinghamshire, and at this early stage in the season there is plenty of reason to be optimistic, in the one-day format at least, for the team to carry on as they've begun and become genuine title contenders.