Nottinghamshire enjoyed the better of things on the opening day of their LV= County Championship match against Worcestershire at New Road.

The home side were dismissed for 269 in 68.1 overs, after electing to bat first. Alex Gidman, skippering the side in the absence of the injured Daryl Mitchell, made 71 and Ben Cox scored 56 but wickets fell at regular intervals, with four bowlers sharing the wickets.

Harry Gurney finished with three for 47, Brett Hutton, took three for 58, Jake Ball, two for 64 and Imran Tahir, on his first class debut for the county, ended with two for 80.

In the final session of the day Alex Hales and Brendan Taylor survived one or two close lbw calls to reach stumps on 71 without loss, a scoreline which represents a very decent day for the visitors, as Brett Hutton confirmed.

“It’s been a good day again for us,” he said. “It’s a pretty decent pitch and I think we did well as a unit. Harry was the stand-out, I thought he bowled very well without his rewards until the end when Mull (Steven Mullaney) pulled off a blinder of a catch and then he got a drag on. It’s been a good day for us.”

The match began with two boundaries from the first two balls, one of them four leg-byes, but Notts immediately halted the Worcs’ progress with Hutton removing Richard Oliver for four at the start of the second over; Chris Read accepting the routine offering.

Brett D’Oliveira and Tom Fell then enjoyed the remainder of the opening hour as they added 48 together for the second wicket, punishing any width and getting full benefit from the fast outfield.

Gurney’s introduction separated the pair, with D’Oliveira getting pinned in his crease and given out lbw for 18.

Worcestershire had been 59 for one but slid to 60 for three as Joe Clarke played around Hutton and fell for an eight-ball duck.

Fell had played the only innings of substance during the morning session but his stay ended on 44 when he nicked the returning Ball through to Read.

Either side of lunch Notts were made to work for their next success as Gidman and Ross Whiteley added 85. A fine, low catch from Hutton at third slip, off Ball, accounted for Whiteley after left-hander had made a solid 34.

Tahir’s maiden first class wicket for Notts was a significant one, as Gidman, who’d reached his 50 from 89 balls with eight fours, edged behind.  

Hutton had Joe Leach smartly caught by a diving Brendan Taylor at mid on and Jack Shantry fell to Tahir on the stroke of tea.

Cox reached his 50 with his eighth boundary, from 62 balls but then fell to a stunning slip catch by Steven Mullaney off Gurney, who bagged his third scalp by bowling Saeed Ajmal.

The Nottinghamshire reply began in even more remarkable fashion than the home side’s had. A Charlie Morris no ball was followed by back-to-back boundaries to the third man fence by Brendan Taylor, meaning Notts were 10 without loss from two legitimate deliveries.

After 13 overs Worcestershire made a change behind the stumps. During his innings Cox had been struck in the grille and it was decided that he should leave the field and hand over the gloves to Clarke.

Hales had reached 38 not out and Taylor was on 28 when the umpires decided that the light had deteriorated sufficiently and took the players off four overs early.

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