Nottinghamshire enjoyed the best of the first day of their LV= County Championship clash against Lancashire in Liverpool. Having bowled out the hosts for 225 just after tea the visitors were able to take charge and bring the top order in to bat.
Just after Alex Hales and Steven Mullaney took to the crease, Luke Fletcher was on standby as the potential night watchman should an early wicket fall but he took the opportunity to reflect on a successful day so far for the county.
“We’ve had a good morning as a bowling and fielding unit, I’m sure our batsman can follow that up tonight,” he said.
After winning the toss this morning Nottinghamshire elected to field, a decision which Fletcher revealed was more to do with the weather than tactical planning.
“When we got here this morning there was heavy cloud cover and our captain made the decision that we’d field if we won the toss. Looking at how things developed in terms of our bowling, that was the right call.”
When discussing his initial impressions of the pitch, Fletcher is confident the visitors can do well here.
“Day One the pitch reads bowler friendly then as the days go on and it gets softer it will be easier to bat on so we’re definitely off to a good start here,” he added.
“We’ve taken wickets steadily all day and it’s been an all-round effort. We all picked up wickets and there were a few really good catches from the fielders so we’re in a strong position.”
With this match being the last LV=County Championship game before One-Day fixtures dominate the next few weeks, Fletcher spoke of his desire to see Nottinghamshire clinch a win and return to the top of the Division One table.
“To win here would put is in a really good position for the rest of the summer,” he said.
“We’re second behind Yorkshire at the moment with only five points in it so to win this game would be ideal because it’s the last four day fixture for a while and we need to capitalise on the success we’ve had for the past month.”