Nottinghamshire forged a first innings advantage of 61 on the second day of their LV= County Championship game against Worcestershire at New Road.

With Chris Read scoring 90, Alex Hales making 85 and good support from Brett Hutton and Jake Ball, Notts made 330 before being bowled out on the stroke of tea, with Charlie Morris returning the best figures, three for 48.

In their second innings Worcestershire reached 115 for four at stumps, an overall lead of 54. One of the wickets was taken by Jake Ball, who had earlier made 38, his highest first class score, making it a pretty decent day, all told.

“It was nice to get a few boundaries away when I got out there,” he said. “They kept the spinners on and I enjoyed that. It was nice to get a career best score as I was seeing it reasonably well, which was  pleasing because it was my first bat for quite a while.”

Ball believes Notts are in a strong position at the halfway stage of the match.

“It’s nice to get the runs on the board and get into a position where we could get at Worcestershire. It was important to get a lead as we felt that the wicket was still doing enough to make some early inroads, which we’ve done.

“I think we’re in a good position now, for the rest of the fixture.”

Notts had begun the day on their overnight score of 71 without loss, with Hales and Brendan Taylor together at the crease.

Worcestershire didn’t have to wait too long for a breakthrough as Taylor’s was dismissed with an lbw verdict going the way of Joe Leach. The opener departed for 31.

A drive through the covers from Jack Shantry brought Hales his tenth four and a 50 from 80 balls. Steven Mullaney began at a pace, hitting four boundaries in his 21, before nicking Morris to Tom Fell at third slip.

Notts had been 120 for one prior to that dismissal but soon slid to 128 for five in a dramatic passage of play. James Taylor was next to go, making five before being bowled by Morris, who then followed up by trapping Riki Wessels lbw two balls later.

An unfortunate run out brought about the fourth wicket to go down in as many overs. Hales punched the ball into the off side and called for two, with Morris having to make up some ground to field.

Hales slipped over as he was turning at the non-strikers end, leaving Samit Patel stranded in the middle of the wicket and unable to beat the accurate return from the deep to depart without facing.

Read provided a calming influence as lunch was reached without any further calamities. The status quo was shattered early in the afternoon session though, as Hales shouldered arms and lost his off peg to Jack Shantry.

Hutton, with 40, and Ball, who scored a career best 38, provided the sort of support that the coaching staff would be proud of. Both youngsters played a delightful array of shots and helped the captain add 143 for the seventh and eighth wickets.

Hutton was eventually given out, caught behind by Ben Cox off Ross Whiteley. Worcestershire’s joy was tempered by Ball’s aggressive approach as he went after his shots before being adjudged lbw against Saeed Ajmal.

Imran Tahir’s first innings for the county was ended abruptly as Brett D’Oliveira bowled him. The second new ball was only three deliveries old when Read became the fourth to fall lbw, this time to Shantry.

Nottinghamshire’s afternoon heroes were quickly to the fore as the home side began their second innings. Read clutched onto a nick from Richard Oliver to give Ball the first wicket and then Hutton bowled Tom Fell, both batsmen making only 4.

D’Oliveira was trapped by Hutton for 19 and then Mullaney knocked back Alex Gidman’s off peg, bowling the home skipper for 21.

Joe Clarke and Ross Whiteley frustrated the visitors in the closing 45 minutes of the day but will need to extend their partnership significantly on the third morning if they are to arrest the momentum away from Nottinghamshire’s grasp.

 

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