Sports India

The director of cricket watched the draw live on television last night after Notts’ victory over the Derbyshire Phantoms in their final group game.

It paired the Outlaws with Graeme Swann’s former side, but Newell was more thankful that the match would be at Trent Bridge.

“It was perhaps good to avoid Surrey, but Northants are a dangerous side with the likes of David Sales, Sourav Ganguly and Lance Klusener in their ranks,” said Newell.

“But the key thing is that it will be at our ground.”

Notts clinched that privilege by beating Derbyshire by nine wickets.

It meant they finished second out of the three groups with the best record and joined group winners Gloucestershire, Essex and Leicestershire in being guaranteed a home tie.

“Fleming and Patel batted superbly at the end, as did Swann, getting us off to a quick start, but I thought it was a pretty professional performance all round,” he said.

Tickets for the quarter-final match went on sale this morning.

It’s the first time the Outlaws have reached the knock-out stages and Notts deputy chief executive Lisa Pursehouse expects a huge demand for tickets - nearly 8,000 watched them beat Derbyshire last night.