NOTTINGHAMSHIRE MEN
County Championship – Winners (W7, D6, L1)
Metro Bank Cup (50 over) – Eliminated at Group Stage
Vitality T20 Blast – Eliminated at Group Stage
Captain(s) – Haseeb Hameed (First Class and List-A); Joe Clarke (T20)
From Transition to Triumph – that would be the quick summary of Nottinghamshire in the 2025 County Championship.
To lift the title just one year after battling against relegation was as deserved as it was surprising. They finished with more wins, seven, than any other county and 16 points clear of second placed Surrey.
Outstanding win of the season was the penultimate game, away to league leaders and defending champions Surrey. Notts went into the game one point behind their hosts and won a thrilling encounter late on day four by 20 runs. That victory meant that they needed a maximum of 11 points from the final game – at home to Warwickshire – to clinch the title.
The Guardian reviewing the season said: “…the campaign has been a team and squad victory. Nine batters hit centuries and seven bowlers pocketed five-wicket hauls. Unlike 2024, players stayed fit and they hit the jackpot with their overseas players – fast bowlers Fergus O’Neill and Mohammad Abbas and Verreynne, the big-hitting wicketkeeper.”
O’Neill’s introduction to English cricket could hardly have gone better – two wickets in his first spell and a ‘five-fer’ in the opening innings as Notts completed an eight wicket win over Durham.
Despite a century in each innings by Colin Ackerman, Durham were undone by Josh Tongue – also making his debut after a long layoff through injury – taking 5-66 in the second innings.
Notts were helped by the scheduling computer that gave them four home matches in the first five fixtures. After those five, Nottinghamshire had won three and drawn two to lead the table.
Victorian Fergus O’Neill went back to Australia after his four match contract ended, leaving Notts with a tally of 21 wickets at 17.90, best figures of 5-16 and one half-century.
He was replaced in the squad by Pakistan Test bowler Mohammad Abbas, who had signed for Notts in 2020, only for the Covid pandemic to close off that opportunity. After four successful seasons with Hampshire, he arrived at Trent Bridge and emulated O’Neill by taking five wickets in the first innings that he bowled – almost inevitably, against his previous county in a comfortable 366 run victory.
The return fixture at Durham brought the only defeat of the season. A first innings total of 407, including a double ton from skipper Haseeb Hameed, was not enough to prevail as the home side scored 664, with three centurions. Notts responded with 347, based on Joe Clarke’s 119 but the hosts easily reached their target to win by seven wickets.
That loss meant that Surrey took a narrow lead in the Championship by dint of not having lost a match.
A good home win over Yorkshire was followed by four matches in which the Kookaburra ball was used rather than the usual Duke. This was a decision by the ECB to give English bowlers the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the ball that would be used in the forthcoming Ashes series.
Unfortunately, especially in unusually warm and dry conditions, the ball quickly lost its hardness and most county matches were high-scoring draws. Notts drew with Yorkshire, Somerset (home and away) and Hampshire.
The home tie with Yorkshire saw the first appearance of Indian Test keeper Ishan Kishan, who made a brisk 87 in Notts first innings and then marked his first stint as keeper by taking a catch off the very first ball.
He caught Adam Lyth off the bowling of Abbas but Yorkshire made 510 in reply to Notts 487 and the match was tied. In the next match, he took off his pads and bowled the final over of the draw against Somerset to complete a memorable two-match stay; he replaced Kyle Verreynne who was on international duty with South Africa.
In the Hampshire game, the highlight was Lyndon James’s first First-Class double hundred; he made 203, sharing a century partnership with Jack Haynes, who made 103. Lyndon’s double hundred was an historic first by a number seven batter for Notts.
In the second draw with Somerset, it was captain Hameed that made a double ton, scoring 208 as Nottinghamshire made 544 in reply to the home side’s 438. That brought the first round of county matches to an end as The Hundred and the 50-over Metro Bank Cup filled the schedule.
On the resumption of county matches, Nottinghamshire’s task was simple but daunting – they needed to better Surrey’s points total over the three final games.
The first of those was away at Worcestershire’s beautiful but watery New Road. Rain interrupted all the county fixtures but Notts managed to get in sufficient cricket to defeat the home side.
In a low scoring game, Notts stumbled to a three wicket win, making 136-7 and take 19 points. Thus the scene was set for the game at The Oval.
Matt Fisher, 5-61 and Gus Atkinson, 4-41, did the damage as Surrey restricted Notts to 231 all out. In reply, the Southerners had reached the comfort of 101-2 only to lose the remaining eight wickets for 72 runs. Tongue, Pennington, James and Hutton shared the wickets.
Batting again, Notts fared slightly better, making 256 with Liam Patterson-White contributing a valuable 58. Surrey needed 305 to win and secure their fourth consecutive Championship. With eight full internationals in their eleven, it was a gettable target.
In a match dominated by seam bowlers, Notts captain was inspired (or took a gamble) when Surrey looked well placed. They were 60 runs short of the target with five wickets in hand when Hameed gave the ball to spinner Liam Patterson-White; Tom Curran gave him the charge, missed and was stumped by Kyle Verreynne, 244-6 and Notts had the momentum. Patterson-White bowled one over in the match, taking 1-6!
Josh Tongue was all but irresistible, well supported by the other seamers and it was fitting that the final wicket, Tom Lawes caught by Ben Slater in the deep, was off his bowling to give him second innings figures of 5-100.
Nottinghamshire were back at the top of the table with one game to go; though a draw would probably have been sufficient, they were determined to go for the win.
Warwickshire were the visitors to Trent Bridge and made 258, Brett Hutton 4-46. Notts responded with 374, led from the front by skipper ‘Has’ who made a vital 122. The crucial moment came during a barnstorming partnership between keeper Verreynne and spin bowler Patterson-White. Notts needed to pass 300 and get a crucial batting bonus point to be sure of finishing as champions.
Just as he had predicted in interviews that morning, Verreynne scored the 300th run, crashing the ball over the ropes for a six!
Hutton, Abbas and Dillon Pennington took three wickets apiece – Pennington, remarkably, all in the 43rd over – to reduce Warwickshire to 133 and set a modest challenge.
Hameed and Slater came out and quickly knocked off the 18 runs required, the final victory was delivered and Nottinghamshire could celebrate their first Championship for 15 years and the first to be clinched at home since Clive Rice led them in 1981 (the 1987 title was confirmed whilst Notts, who had finished their season waited for other results).
In the course of making those final runs, Ben Slater scored his 1000th First-Class run of the season; Hameed finished with 1,258 runs (second only to Surrey’s Dom Sibley). Hutton was the top wicket taker with 38; Mohammad Abbas and Josh Tongue also took more than 30 wickets to underline the strength of the squad.
During the last home match, county caps were awarded to Liam Patterson-White, Dillon Pennington and Jack Haynes, the letter having scored four centuries in his best season since arriving from Worcester.
Josh Tongue and Ben Duckett (who played only one county game in 2025) featured for England in the Test against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge. Duckett scored 140 as he and Zak Crawley put on a double hundred opening partnership; Tongue took a wicket in each innings.
Tongue also played in three other Tests, against India, taking 21 wickets, including 5-125 at The Oval. His ability to run through the lower order batting earned him the nickname ‘The Mop’ from Notts teammate Ben Duckett.
Away from the tension and excitement of the red-ball game, the limited overs competitions could not offer the same success. Although there were some fine individual performances – Haynes with yet another century in the 50-over games – The Outlaws failed to qualify for the knockout stages of either tournament.
The Club made a presentation to say thank you to Alex Hales for his achievements in a Nottinghamshire shirt across 18 consecutive summers with the county at the start of the last 
home game.
Hales, who recently became the first Englishman to surpass 14,000 T20 runs, in the course of claiming the CPL title with Trinbago Knight Riders, enjoyed a glittering career in Nottinghamshire colours.
His unbeaten 187 carried the Outlaws to glory in the 2017 Royal London One Day Cup Final against Surrey, while he also won the 2010 County Championship, 2013 YB40 and 2020 Vitality Blast. His 4,825 T20 runs is the most scored by any man in an Outlaws shirt.
Scorecards and stats can be seen here
THE BLAZE
Metro Bank One-Day Cup Semi Final
Women’s Vitality Blast Semi Final
Captain Kathryn Bryce
In their first season as a fully integrated part of Nottinghamshire CCC, The Blaze had a successful campaign, reaching the semi-finals of each of the competitions that they entered but will have been disappointed not to have secured at least one trophy.
With Trent Bridge now confirmed as The Blaze home ground – though matches would continue to be staged at other grounds in the East Midlands – the season began with a landmark training session in which the men’s and women’s squads trained together.
The assembled audience of Notts members were treated to a high-intensity collaborative fielding session, featuring the likes of England's Olly Stone and Scotland star Kathryn Bryce, before retiring to the Derek Randall Suite for tea and pastries with players and coaching staff.
The early season competition was the 20-Over Vitality Women’s County Cup that The Blaze entered at the third round with a home game against Oxfordshire Women.
Victory in that match and the next away to Kent Women brought them to a semi-final against Lancashire Women to be played at Taunton that ended in a seven-wicket defeat.
When the main Vitality Blast T20 campaign started, The Blaze played a tie against Warwickshire and gained some revenge for the earlier loss by beating Lancashire at Old Trafford.
They progressed to the Semi-Final, against Warwickshire at The Oval. Warwickshire batted first, making 163-8, Sarah Glenn taking 3-29; The Blaze replied with 153 all out, Georgia Elwiss top scoring with 53.
Parallel with the Vitality Blast, the Metro Bank 50-0ver Cup started with another loss to Lancashire – by eight wickets – but then results improved to see the team reach a second Semi-Final of the year.
Yet again, the opponents were Lancashire and again the visitors, the semi was played at Trent Bridge, triumphed, by 5 runs, despite 124 from Blaze captain Kathryn Bryce.
Bryce made 632 runs at 48.61 with six half centuries to go with the century in the semi-final. In the Vitality Blast her record was 522 with a top score of 61no.
Scorecards and stats can be seen here
Nottinghamshire CEO Lisa Pursehouse had announced her intention to stand down at the end of the season and a presentation was made to her on the final day of the Championship.
October 2025