Samit Patel, Riki Wessels and Brendan Taylor took the honours for Nottinghamshire on the second day of their first class friendly against Loughborough MCCU at Trent Bridge.
Patel returned the pick of the bowling figures, claiming four for 51 as the students posted 308 all out in their first innings, exactly the same score that the home side had made on the opening day.
Batting for a second time Notts reached 104 without loss at stumps with Wessels and Taylor both delighting the crowd with an array of attacking shots.
Wessels closed on 55 not out with Taylor one run away from his first half century for the county.
Earlier, Hasan Azad, a 20 year old left-handed batsman who has made appearances for Notts’ Seconds, stole the batting headlines for the visitors by scoring 99 in only his second first class appearance.
Azad was at the crease for 338 minutes, faced 237 balls and hit eight fours. Anish Patel, the Loughborough captain, scored 83.
Notts’ other wicket-takers were Steven Mullaney (2-22), Jake Ball (2-72), Harry Gurney (1-45) and Luke Fletcher 1-50).
Notts had to work hard for their two successes during the morning session. The four pace bowlers had all been rotated without success as Patel and Azad extended their second wicket stand into three figures.
The two batsmen had arrived at the crease on the first evening and had barely been troubled, apart from the odd play and miss and the occasional edge which fell short of the slip cordon.
Patel reached his maiden first class 50 with back-to-back boundaries from the bowling of Gurney. He reached the landmark from 101 balls, with seven fours and may have been eyeing up something grander when he was undone by the introduction of spin.
Samit Patel’s first delivery was called as a no ball but his next did the trick, striking the pad as a prelude to a successful lbw appeal.
New batsman Nitish Kumar went quickly. With just his second ball of the new season Mullaney found the edge and Patel took a sharp catch at second slip.
Azad, who plays his club cricket for Plumtree CC, reached his own battling 50 in just over three hours, having hit five fours from his 128 deliveries.
His partnership with Ian Prowse was short-lived as Mullaney picked up an lbw verdict, but Notts were then held up by an aggressive cameo from Michael Burgess.
The 20-year old, who has played for Surrey’s second eleven, danced down the track to hoist Patel back over his head as he raced to 43, with nine sparkling boundaries.
His cavalier approach cost him in the end though, as he was stumped by yards after missing with another gallant charge towards Patel.
An equally ambitious way to play the England international brought another breakthrough in the same over. Robert White shouldered arms, expecting some significant turn, only to look back and survey the wreckage of his flattened stumps.
It became three wickets in eleven balls for the slow left armer as Sam Grant edged Patel to Mullaney at slip.
The second new ball was taken after tea and eventually brought the downfall of Robert McKinley, who had played nicely in making 39. He heaved Ball over the leg side for six but then missed a full, straight ball and was bowled.
Azad moved from 94 to 99 but then looked to run Ball away for the single he needed but only succeeded in feathering it through to Chris Read.
Tom Nugent was swiftly knocked over by Fletcher, leaving the scores tied and the game in the balance.
In addition to the closeness of the two first innings, the tea-time scores each day had been identical and each first innings had finished at exactly 5.10pm.
Towards the close of the day Wessels and B Taylor restored the balance of power with some aggressive strokeplay.
In the final over Wessels reached his 50, coming from exactly 50 deliveries, with seven fours and two sixes.
Taylor, who only had nine after his first 35 deliveries, was unbeaten on 49 from 61 balls at stumps.
The excitement of the NatWest T20 Blast returns to Trent Bridge in May as Notts Outlaws hope to break the 10,000 barrier for the arrival of reigning champions Birmingham Bears on Friday 15 May.