Luke Wood was the pick of the bowlers as Nottinghamshire utilised the swinging ball to blow away much of the Middlesex top-order, only for a sizeable eighth wicket stand to redress the balance on Day One at Trent Bridge.

The 19-year-old left-armer, who was recently nominated for the LV= Breakthrough Player Award for 2015, ended the day with figures of 2-65 after spearheading a bowling performance that saw Middlesex collapse to 165-7.

Dawid Malan was, by then, well on the way to a century - and he found an able deputy at the crease in the shape of James Harris.

The pair added an unbeaten 147 by the close with Malan posting a career-best score of 159 not out.

Harris closed with 68 to his name, his ninth career half-century, and Middlesex had recovered to 312-7 by stumps.

Nottinghamshire won the toss and elected to field under cloudy skies at Trent Bridge with Wood earning a recall to the side alongside fellow pace bowlers Harry Gurney and Jake Ball.

Wood was fresh from a week of rest having been pulled out of the firing line by Mick Newell for the match against Worcestershire, and the left-armer began by ripping out the middle-stump of Australia international Joe Burns (5) with an in-swinger.

Ball shared the new ball with his fellow Academy graduate and accounted for Sam Robson lbw for 15.

Nick Compton was next to go for 19 when Brett Hutton, who had seen the former England man dropped in the slips off his previous delivery, bounced back to induce a nick through to Chris Read off the very next ball.

Middlesex took lunch at 88-3 and England’s limited-overs captain, Eoin Morgan - back at the scene of his explosive one-day international century against New Zealand last month - received a let-off early in the afternoon session when he was caught at slip off a Harry Gurney no-ball.

The left-hander’s score was still on 15 when he was dismissed in the following over nicking a Wood out-swinger into the gloves of Read.

Malan, who had been dropped on 29, passed 50 for the first time in the championship this season in 79 balls, with nine fours, shortly before losing another partner when James Franklin was lbw to Gurney for four. 

Ollie Rayner contributed five to a partnership of 33 with Malan before perishing to a one-handed catch by Brendan Taylor at short-cover, off the medium-pace of Steven Mullaney.

Malan’s century arrived in 143 balls with 16 fours, the hundred partnership came-up in 183 balls, and Harris’s fifty took 108 deliveries with seven boundaries. 

The century stand continued through to the close either side of a short rain delay that trimmed two overs from the day’s allocation, Malan reaching his 150 off 223 balls with 23 fours.

 

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