Patto stands out in bowler's graveyard

It wasn't the stump-shattering, fear-inducing performance he's produced multiple times in recent months, but James Pattinson’s return to county cricket in a 50-overs run-fest was arguably just as impressive as his feats from earlier in the season.

In a one-day quarter-final at Taunton on Tuesday, Nottinghamshire prevailed over Somerset as the two sides racked up 834 runs between them, the fourth-highest match aggregate in List A history.

While Pattinson's figures of 1-59 from nine overs hardly jump off the page, his economy rate of 6.56 was the lowest among all 13 of the bowlers used in (almost entirely unsuccessful) attempts to stem the carnage. 

The Victorian's comparatively miserly return was all the more significant considering he hadn't bowled in a match for nearly three weeks, having sat on the sidelines during Australia's sodden Champions Trophy campaign.

Batting first, Nottinghamshire looked on track for a total even more outrageous than the 9-429 they eventually settled for, having lost five wickets in a frenetic 12-ball stretch at the back-end of their innings.

Former Zimbabwe batsman Brendan Taylor led the way for the visitors, crashing five sixes on the way to 154 from just 97 balls.

Somerset, thanks to a blistering 63-ball 91 from South Africa batsman Dean Elgar and a couple of lower-order cameos, fought bravely but the end neared when Pattinson took the penultimate wicket with Craig Overton caught behind.

England Test seamer Stuart Broad sealed the match when he ran out Overton's twin brother Jamie, handing the Outlaws a semi-final date with Essex on Friday.

Taylor said his innings had been a while coming, but admitted Notts need to improve with the ball for their knockout clash with Essex.

"If anything, I have been trying too hard with my batting and getting tense. I felt I owed the team that innings,” he told Nottinghamshire’s website.

"I was almost run out on 99, but thankfully the ball missed the stumps. We would have chased if we had won the toss and it worked out well because it was a great pitch to bat on and we were able to set a very big target.

"Even then we could never afford to relax because at 35 overs Somerset were on course and we had to take wickets.

“In the end it's a great win for us. As Notts players we expect to challenge for trophies and now it is on to Chelmsford for what should be another fantastic game against Essex.

"We weren't at our best in the field today and will need to sharpen up for the semi-final."

Taunton has seen it's fair share of high-scoring contests before. Back in 2006 Australians Justin Langer and Cameron White put on 186 between them as Somerset hit a then-record 3-250 in 20 overs.

The same venue hosts England and South Africa for the second T20 of their series later this month, and will also be the venue for Australia's Women's World Cup opener against the West Indies.

Amazingly, Nottinghamshire have now been involved in three of six highest-scoring domestic 50-over games.

Last June, an astonishing run spree at Trent Bridge saw Notts and Northamptonshire score 870 runs in 98.2 overs, only two short of the all-time List A record of 872, a record set in the famous 2006 Wanderers ODI between South Africa and Australia.

Having scored 445 in that match, Nottinghamshire backed it up two days later when they posted 415 against Warwickshire, and then conceded 379, with 794 scored in total.