Patel ton keeps Notts riding high

Nottinghamshire 243 for 4 (Patel 129*) beat Warwickshire 238 for 7 (Maddy 56, Ambrose 55, Gurney 3-41) by six wickets
Scorecard

Samit Patel's first one-day century for three years guided Nottinghamshire to a six-wicket victory over Warwickshire and maintained their 100% start to this season's Yorkshire Bank 40 competition.

Patel, overlooked by England for the Champions Trophy, scored an undefeated 129 as his side reached their victory target of 239 with five balls remaining at Trent Bridge.

The 28-year old had arrived at the crease in the sixth over, after Nottinghamshire had lost both Alex Hales and Michael Lumb inside the first six overs and went on to hit 12 boundaries and four towering sixes in his 123-ball knock.

Hales, recalled after being dropped for his county's latest championship fixture, continued his run of poor form when Oliver Hannon-Dalby, with his first delivery after returning from a lengthy injury lay-off, knocked back the batsman's off stump for just 6.

Lumb, who had posted a career-best first-class score of 221 not out just 24 hours earlier, had a brief but eventful stay at the crease. Despite hitting two mighty sixes, he scored only 21 but should have fallen earlier but for a comical slip by Ateeq Javid, whose feet went from underneath him as he positioned himself to take a routine chance at third man.

Nottinghamshire overcame his loss as Patel and James Taylor combined with a punishing third-wicket stand of 125 to take the match away from Warwickshire. Taylor, who took his aggregate of runs to 318 in this season's competition for just three dismissals, appeared set for his fourth score of fifty or above this summer until being over-ambitious and lifting a ramp shot to third man off Darren Maddy when on 46.

There would be no denying Patel though, as he progressed to his highest one-day score before finishing the match with a straight six off Hannon-Dalby.

Earlier, Maddy's hard-hitting 56 had boosted the Warwickshire total to a respectable 238 for 7. He rolled back the years to bring up his 50 from just 33 deliveries, with nine fours and a six before he became one of Harry Gurney's three victims.

Gurney had been the pick of the Nottinghamshire bowlers, uprooting two of Will Porterfield's stumps early on and then returning to see off Steffan Piolet in the penultimate over.

Nottinghamshire's task may have been easier had they held their own opportunities in the field. Tim Ambrose was dropped twice on his way to a 62-ball half-century as the visitors recovered from a scratchy start on a used surface.

While last year's defeated finalists slumped to their fifth loss of the current campaign, their victors celebrated a sixth straight win, their best start to a one-day season since 1976.