Stuart Broad and Imran Tahir each picked up three wickets as Nottinghamshire enjoyed a decent time with the ball on the opening day of their Specsavers County Championship match against Lancashire at Trent Bridge.

Broad took three for 50 and Tahir, three for 78, as the visitors were restricted to 273 for nine after winning the toss and opting to bat.

Tom Smith made 70 for the visitors but from a position of 118 for one, the Red Rose lost their next eight wickets for only 155.

Notts were still not able to include Chris Read in their starting eleven, with the club skipper still recuperating from his hand injury. That meant that Steven Mullaney retained the captaincy against his former county.

There were four changes from the team that played against Warwickshire last week, with Greg Smith bolstering the batting line-up and Harry Gurney returning to share the new ball.

The other additions enabled England’s Broad to get some match practice into his legs ahead of the Pakistan Test series and Tahir also came into the side as the overseas player.

Those replaced, were the rested Jake Ball, Luke Fletcher, who has a slight groin strain, off spinner Matthew Carter and Dan Christian.

Lancashire’s openers batted their way through the first hour of the day, putting on 34 from 15 overs, with Broad going for just nine runs from eight testing overs.

Brett Hutton made the breakthrough as Haseeb Hameed, who scored 16, thrust bat and pad towards the medium-pacer and unluckily saw the deflection loop gently to Michael Lumb in the gully.

Luke Procter and Tom Smith had the better of the hour leading up to lunch, putting on 75 together as Mullaney rotated his bowlers.

Tahir’s opening over gave indications that he may be a little rusty, going for 13 runs, with two boundaries and two no-balls.

The South African international visibly improved as his spell stretched into the early afternoon and it was no real surprise when he ended the second wicket stand.

Procter and Smith had put 84 on before the leg spinner straightened one to bowl Procter for 48.

Smith moved to his 50 from 113 balls, having hit seven boundaries but lost his new partner soon afterwards. Alviro Petersen (11) was adjudged to have clipped Broad down the leg side and paid the price as Riki Wessels completed a one-handed diving catch.

The combination of Broad and Tahir had set the tone at the start of the middle session, with the pair having taken over 1,300 first class wickets between them. 

Steven Croft also fell in the afternoon session, trapped lbw to Tahir for nine, although his stride towards the ball may have saved him on another day.

Smith’s vigil ended by another beautiful piece of bowling from Tahir, who drew him far enough forward, enabling Wessels to execute a sharp stumping.

Karl Brown made 36 before falling to the second new ball, edging Gurney to the ‘keeper.

Broad produced the wow moment of the day as he completed a stunning return catch to account for Jordan Clark but the mood quickly changed as Neil Wagner was felled by a Harry Gurney bouncer which struck the helmet, before rolling back on to the stumps.

Thankfully, after the fielders had gestured for immediate treatment, the New Zealand international was able to get up and walk off under his own steam.

Liam Livingstone made a typically punchy 33 but he fell just before the close, with Samit Patel taking a well-judged catch in the covers to give Broad his third scalp.

 

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