Luke Fletcher and Jackson Bird each took three wickets for Nottinghamshire on a topsy-turvy opening day of their Specsavers County Championship fixture against Warwickshire at Trent Bridge.
Fletcher claimed three for 70 and Bird took three for 81 as Notts were made to pay for letting a position of strength slip through their fingers.
The visitors had been 17 for four at one stage but still managed to reach stumps on 372 for nine, after centuries from Chris Woakes and Keith Barker tilted the balance back towards the batsmen.
Fletcher admitted that the second half of the day didn’t go as planned “It was a weird sort of day,” he said. “I thought we were on top in the first session and convincingly won that but Warwickshire fought back strongly.
“They’ve been renowned for their strong tail and it’s come to the party today. All credit to the way Keith Barker and Chris Woakes played in that last session, they were outstanding but we did drop Woakes twice in the slips and that was costly.
“They’ve got a strong batting line-up, so it’s important we hit out straps but I don’t think we were as good this afternoon in all fairness. I thought we were brilliant this morning but not as good this afternoon and they got away from us.”
Nottinghamshire made three changes from the side that had played at Lord’s in the last match. Brendan Taylor, Jackson Bird and Luke Fletcher all returned in place of the England trio, Stuart Broad, Jake Ball and Alex Hales.
For Fletcher, it was his first game of the season for the county, having been out on loan at Derbyshire but his selection wasn’t confirmed until Luke Wood reported in with slight back pain.
Chris Woakes won the toss and elected to bat first, after assuming the Warwickshire leadership in Ian Bell’s injury-enforced absence.
Jackson Bird made the initial breakthrough, having Varun Chopra taken by Riki Wessels at first slip for four.
Fletcher then removed Ian Westwood (1), Laurie Evans (4) and Sam Hain (0) in an 11-over spell which brought him figures of three for six.
That return would have been better but for a wide and a no ball. Nottinghamshire’s morning was made even better when Steven Mullaney removed Tim Ambrose (14) to the third leg before decision of the session.
Jonathan Trott showed glimpses of his quality in the early part of the afternoon, reaching his 50 from 101 balls, with 10 fours. He then greeted the return of Brett Hutton by hitting the seamer for four consecutive boundaries.
It seemed as if something special would be needed to remove Trott (68) and it came, courtesy of a stunning one-handed catch by Hutton off Bird’s bowling.
Woakes had all the fortune that was going, early in his innings, being spilled by Michael Lumb and Steven Mullaney, both times off Hutton but the longer he stayed, the more impressive he looked.
Rikki Clarke (9) chanced his arm against Samit Patel and failed to clear Riki Wessels on the long on fence, but that was to be Notts’ last moment of success for some time.
The two centurions combined in a county record eighth wicket stand of 167 against Notts, ended when Woakes (121) nicked behind to give Bird his third wicket.
Woakes’ century was the ninth of his career and he faced a total of 187 deliveries, hitting 19 fours.
Barker reached his ton with a pulled six off Hutton and he moved to 113 before gloving down the leg side off Harry Gurney. His hundred was his sixth and he faced 123 deliveries, with 15 fours and that maximum.
Jeetan Patel and Chris Wright saw it through to the end, with 28 more runs needed for full batting points.
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