Outlaws seek to do the burgling

Nottinghamshire v Birmingham
Holders Birmingham can feel the excitement building up over the arrival of Brendon McCullum after the New Zealand series, but as their coach Dougie Brown observed: "If we play poor cricket before Brendon comes we will be out of the competition anyway." It was only Notts' victory away to Yorkshire last season that allowed Warwickshire, in Brown's words, to "burgle our way through". Notts, before a crowd of 10,000-plus, will represent a challenging start, even if Alex Hales has been enticed to a short-term deal at IPL. After four consecutive quarterfinal defeats in gold shirts, this year Notts wear Outlaw green: they want to do the robbing this time around.

Durham v Northants
Shahid Afridi will make his debut for the Steelbacks as they aim to revive memories of their 2013 Twenty20 triumph. Durham, who have only reached finals day once, hope the installation of floodlights at their Chester-le-Street HQ - due to be unveiled against Yorkshire at the end of the month - will lift both crowds and performances. Ryan Pringle, a burly off-spinning all-rounder also capable of big hitting, adds to a Sunderland quintet and John Hastings, the leading wicket-taker in Australia's recent Big Bash, is doing the hard yards all season.

Lancashire v Leicestershire
Grant Elliott, New Zealand's matchwinner in the World Cup semi final against South Africa, could be one of six debutants for Leicestershire at Old Trafford. "The county has been very successful in T20 in the past, winning the competition three times," Elliott said. "I've seen Leicestershire being quoted at 40-1 to win the T20, but given the history of the club in the competition, I don't think the opposition would be wise to take us lightly." Lancashire, beaten finalists last year, need a new death-bowling combination following the retirement of Kabir Ali and the loss of Junaid Khan. Australian signing James Faulkner is still at the IPL. Liam Livingstone, a young Cumbrian who hit 350 in a recent club match for Nantwich, might debut.

Yorkshire v Derbyshire
Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale is hoping that the Leeds floodlights and a later start will sharpen the appeal of T20 in Yorkshire. Gale has promised a more aggressive brand of cricket. "It's definitely a format in which we are looking to make improvements and I thought we did make some strides last year," he said. "But a club like Yorkshire should be looking to get to Finals Day more regularly than we have done." As well as the absence of both Australian signings Glenn Maxwell and Aaron Finch, Yorkshire also lack Adam Lyth after England's mass withdrawal of players - hardly the start the tournament needs. Hashim Amla is on debut for Derbyshire, who won only one T20 game last season and who have elevated Wes Durston to the captaincy.