Will Young feels Nottinghamshire's batting fight-back in Taunton was a healthy reminder of the unpredictability of four-day cricket and the importance of a hard-to-beat mentality.

Young and double centurion Joe Clarke mustered 392 runs in the second innings of Nottinghamshire's Vitality County Championship draw with Somerset, the biggest third-wicket partnership in the club’s history.

Young is amongst the 13-man squad to make the comparably short trip to Edgbaston, as Notts face Warwickshire on Friday for an 11am start in the fourth round of County Championship fixtures.

Brett Hutton, who picked up an achilles injury during the draw in Somerset, misses out and will be further assessed in the coming days. Ben Duckett, meanwhile, returns to the squad to travel down to Edgbaston, as does Olly Stone who is in contention to face his former county. 

Young and Clarke’s historic moment on day three in Somerset broke a record which had stood for 121 years, beating William and John Gunn’s total of 367 set in 1903.

Having shared a 114-run partnership against Kent in July last year - during his original three-game stint at Trent Bridge - Young already had first-hand experience of Clarke’s abilities with the bat.

“We shared a nice partnership last season. He was whacking it everywhere and I thought, 'wow, this guy is talented',” Young said, “But in Somerset we were really under the cosh on day two, so to get the job done felt great and to share that out in the middle with Clarkey was great fun - he’s a hell of a batter.

“I hope he continues to bat like he did down in Somerset. The way he went about it, he found a rhythm that worked for him, he respected the good balls and was ruthless with anything that came within his zones.

“It was a pleasure to share the best part of a day with him and see him go about his work.”

Trailing by 261 runs ahead of their second innings in Taunton, a defiant mentality was required with the prospect of two whole days of play still remaining.

“We spoke about breaking the chase down into smaller targets,” he said, “The way Somerset batted on day two had us really under the pump and when the opposition have their tails up, things can get really difficult.

“Hats off to Slats (Ben Slater) and Hass (Haseeb Hameed) who got through part of it with me and to get through to the end of the day at one down was really good. There was that belief in the changing room that we could break the target down and salvage a draw if we played really well.

“Our energy managed to wear them down and we wrestled the momentum back. We were stoked to come away with some points after our backs were up against the wall for the most part of it.”

Though the weekend was his first involvement of the year, Young says he watched the first two games against Essex and Worcestershire. To the batter, the early stages are about building confidence.

“If you look at the table, wins have been hard to come by in this early stage of the season,” Young continued, “The loss against Essex hurt, but we’ve since banked some points.

“The key thing is we finished the game strongly against Somerset and we can head up to Warwickshire tomorrow ready to compete for four more days.”

Having already made a lasting impression on team-mates and members alike in his first Nottinghamshire stint - a centurion at The Kia Oval on his Notts debut - Young previously joked that he had set a high bar for himself ahead of his return.

However, an unbeaten 174 to complement Clarke’s 213 has left him feeling very much at home once again in West Bridgford.

“It’s always nice to get off to a nice start, but we know how much things can change in red-ball cricket,” he said.

“I’m focusing on trying to be consistent with the prep I put in before games and the energy I bring to the group.

“In each of the games, there were times when we’ve played really well. There have been a few shifts of momentum, which do happen in four-day cricket. All it takes is a session to mess up a lot of good work and equally the other way round.

“If we stick together and head into this game against Warwickshire - and the three games after that - with the target of being as consistent as we can, with a bit of momentum and confidence we can push for wins.”

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