Warwickshire’s Rikki Clarke and Tim Ambrose struck fifties as the hosts built a significant first innings lead despite four wickets from Jake Ball on the second day of Nottinghamshire’s Specsavers County Championship match at Edgabston.
Ball took four for 76 but the home side recovered from 28 for three to 283 for eight to build an overall lead of 131.
Earlier, Notts had been bowled out for 152 in their first innings with Jake Libby’s first day 59 being the stand-out innings. A trio of Warwickshire bowlers collected three wickets apiece, with Jeetan Patel’s three for eight being the most miserly figures.
Wayne Noon believes both sides could have are learning about the pitch as the match goes on.
“I think both teams might argue we’ve probably misread this pitch a bit,” said Noon. “Both teams wanted to bat. It looked a very hard, true surface before the toss and it’s done a lot more than we thought but saying that 152 all out on the first innings is not acceptable.
“We fought back well before lunch through Jake and Fletch. Jake was exceptional. He showed why he’s on the England radar, he bowled with good pace and with good control and at lunch we were right in the game.
“It slipped away a little bit then. They scored a lot in the middle session; compared to the rest of the game the rate was far too high.
“They’ve definitely batted better than we did; Rikki Clarke and Tim Ambrose are very experienced players and put that experience to good use.”
“The batsmen are doing all the hard work before games and we’ve had enough chats by now. Our experienced batters, our strength over the years, have to stand up and be counted when they get into pressure situations. They are the ones that have to lead from the front.”
Resuming from their overnight position of 125 for six, Notts began the morning with Dan Christian and Brett Hutton at the crease.
As on the first day runs were hard to come by and only eight were accumulated in the first 25 minutes. Christian stroked Keith Barker through the off side for a boundary but fell on 21, edging Rikki Clarke behind to give Tim Ambrose his fourth catch of the innings.
Clarke’s next over brought a similar outcome as Hutton nicked behind for 12.
Luke Fletcher was clunked on the helmet by Boyd Rankin’s round-the-wicket barrage but after being checked out by the physio – and armed with a new lid – the 27-year old was happy to carry on.
Fletcher played a couple of nice shots in reaching 13 not out but any further progress was abandoned as Jeetan Patel closed out the innings. The Kiwi spinner had Matt Carter caught at short leg for two and Ball stumped without scoring.
Notts pleaded for a wicket from the very first ball of the Warwickshire innings, with Ball striking Varun Chopra on the pads.
The opener survived but didn’t make it through the first over, nicking to Brett Hutton at third slip.
Ball then got on a roll and winkled out two more key batsmen before lunch. Andrew Umeed had deflected one off his helmet for four leg byes before being smartly taken at second slip by Steven Mullaney.
The same combination accounted for Ian Bell just before lunch; the former England international falling for ten.
Warwickshire were reduced to 48 for four when Jonathan Trott fell lbw to Hutton for 18 – the ball appearing to keep very low.
The visitors were then held up by a stubborn fifth wicket stand between Sam Hain and Tim Ambrose.
The pair put on 69 – the largest partnership of the match – before the introduction of Carter paid dividends as Riki Wessels, standing up, caught Hain for 39.
Notts had been handicapped by Fletcher having to leave the field after bowling just one ball at the start of his eleventh over with a slight groin strain.
Christian completed that unfinished over and had a couple more but went for five boundaries in his short spell as the Bears marched past the Notts total.
Clarke lifted Carter’s off spin down the ground for the first six of the match, whilst Ambrose reached his half century, getting there from 61 balls, with eleven fours.
Samit Patel ended Ambrose’s stay, helped by Mullaney’s third slip catch of the innings. The Warwickshire wicketkeeper-batsman made 72.
Keith Barker, who scored a century when the sides met at Trent Bridge earlier in the season, looked in good touch again before wandering forward. A sharp bit of work from Wessels stumped the left-hander for 21 off Mullaney.
Clarke’s fifty came from 106 balls and he moved to 74, the highest score in the match, before becoming Balls’ fourth victim, courtesy of a boundary catch by Hutton.
Mark Adair and Jeetan Patel kept the board moving in the final half hour of the day, leaving the Notts bowlers with two wickets to find on the third morning.
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