Nottinghamshire suffered their first loss of the new Specsavers County Championship season, going down to an eight wicket defeat against Lancashire at Old Trafford.
Needing only 86 to win on the final day, the home county reached their target in 17 overs, despite Jake Ball continuing his own fine start to the campaign with two more wickets.
The contest had swung decisively towards Lancashire with a dominant bowling performance on the third day, leaving Mick Newell to make comparisons with what his side faced today.
“I’m a Liverpool fan and if we had been able to pull it off today it would have been like Istanbul, or something like that," he said.
“It’s been a disappointing game; we’ve played some poor cricket and we haven’t batted well enough in both innings. That’s been our undoing and it’s a let-down after a very good start to the season, against Surrey.”
Ball was one Nottinghamshire player that did hit peak form during the trip to Manchester, as the Director of Cricket confirmed. “Jake's picked up six in the game and he’s been terrific in both matches, getting 12 wickets already, so that’s a fantastic start to the season and he’s setting a great example.”
There are eleven days before the next fixture and Newell said that different players will respond differently to the challenge ahead.
“We are going to have to treat people individually over the next few days, some of it is technical , some are making technical mistakes, perhaps with footwork or positioning and others are choosing the wrong option under pressure and playing rash shots.
“Alex Hales will be available for the next game against Yorkshire and he will play, that’s a given – and that’s a good thing for the club but it means somebody will miss out, so we’ll have to think about people individually and look at what is best for the team.”
Chris Read said his side still believed they could turn things around on the final day. “Today we came in full of hope that we could pull off something spectacular and we gave it everything but on all four days we’ve been outplayed.
The captain added, “Having won the toss on a decent wicket, our first innings really hurt us.”
He echoed the comments about Jake Ball. “He’s in fantastic form with the ball; he’s had a great winter having been in Dubai with the Lions. He’s had a taste of what life is like with the ECB set up and he’s really keen to progress that side of his career. He’s taking the new ball because he’s bowling so well and his stats reflect that.
“I think last winter he got fitter and stronger and he’s genuinely lively now as well as doing plenty with the new ball.”
Under clear blue skies Karl Brown and Haseeb Hameed set off in pursuit of their small victory target but were soon parted. Brown, who had failed to score in the first innings, punched the second and fourth deliveries of the opening over for boundaries but then inexplicably left alone the sixth and was palpably out leg before to Ball for eight.
Luke Procter nearly played on to the same bowler, chopping an inside edge past his stumps but the left hander and the young opener weathered the early onslaught before being parted in the ninth over, with 27 on the board.
Hameed pushed softly at Ball and the edge only just carried to Riki Wessels at slip, who had to throw himself forward to take the low chance. The umpires conferred before sending the right-hander on his way for nine.
Alviro Petersen got off the mark with a streaky nick to the third man fence and then edged narrowly past the diving Read for four more.
The former South African international, who made 48 in the first innings, was in no mood to prolong the inevitable as he began to caress the ball around the Old Trafford outfield.
Runs began to flow – and Procter helped the charge towards the finishing line.
Ball, took two for 29 while Stuart Broad ran in hard and bowled seven lively overs without any luck, before Read turned to Samit Patel and Jackson Bird as the end approached.
Notts take three bonus points from the contest, with Lancashire picking up a total of 22 on their return to the top flight.
Nottinghamshire are next in action on Sunday 1 May (11am) when they host county champions Yorkshire at Trent Bridge.
The excitement of NatWest T20 Blast returns to Trent Bridge on Friday 20 May as Notts Outlaws face Birmingham Bears in the first of seven home matches in the competition.
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