Nottinghamshire concluded their pre-season itinerary with another positive display, against a youthful Glamorgan side at The SSE SWALEC Stadium in Cardiff.
Jake Libby, Riki Wessels and Chris Read were the chief beneficiaries on the second day of the friendly match, as Notts scored 243 for the loss of six wickets.
Libby made a sparkling 54, Wessels hit 50 and Read scored 55, with all three batsmen retiring after reaching their half centuries.
Earlier, after the visitors had declared their first innings on the overnight score of 50 for none, Glamorgan batted for an hour and advanced their second innings to 50 for three before another declaration. The wickets were evenly shared between Luke Fletcher, Harry Gurney and Brett Hutton.
Paul Franks described the two days in South Wales as “very worthwhile”. The Assistant Head Coach added. “Yes, without doubt it has been worthwhile, in fact I think since the start of the Cambridge match last week we’ve identified the right intensity to play at and done it very nicely.
“Glamorgan would have liked to have given us a bit more of a sterner test if they could have done but, obviously, injuries and a few other bits and bobs have affected them.
“We can’t do anything about that so we have to concentrate on what we do. We’ve done it well and with a couple of days of decent prep on Wednesday and Thursday, we are in a good place to go and do well on Friday.”
Following news of Nottinghamshire’s overnight declaration, Gurney and Fletcher began with the ball and each struck in the early stages to leave the hosts on five for two.
Fletcher had seen countless appeals turned down on the first day but was luckier when he struck the pads of David Lloyd (2) and had the decision upheld.
That was in the fourth over and in the next Owen Morgan (2) edged Gurney to second slip. Hutton swooped low to his left to keep the ball alive and enable Riki Wessels to get a diving hand under it from first slip.
Chris Cooke, who made nought on the first day, survived an early scare when another confident lbw appeal from Fletcher was turned down.
Hutton took the other wicket to fall, that of Aneurin Donald, who made 15. Hooking a short ball, he looked aghast as he accurately picked out the safe hands of Gurney at long leg.
Cooke was on 18 and Kieran Carlson had made 9 when the declaration came at midday.
Libby and Smith had barely been troubled in their 50-run stand on the first evening and they had even less trouble in advancing to 36 without loss by lunch, with the younger man repeatedly running the ball to the vacant third man fence in reaching 28 not out by the interval.
For the second time in the match the openers put on 50 for the first wicket, getting there soon after they resumed. The milestone was brought up by an exquisite cover drive for four from Libby from the bowling of Roman Walker.
The young Cornish opener can rarely have batted with more fluency and brought up a delightful half century with another boundary, his eleventh. Punching Lloyd through the covers, he’d sped to his 50 from 67 deliveries and retired one ball later.
Smith, who had helped put on 74, then hit his first boundary and followed his partner back to the pavilion after retiring on 15.
Michael Lumb played a classy cover drive but had only made 5 when bowled by Andrew Salter’s off-spin. It was Glamorgan’s first wicket of the match, coming after they had bowled 47.1 overs.
Riki Wessels and Samit Patel immediately went on the offensive; each playing a succession of forcing drives down the ground.
They’d added 40, of which Patel’s share was exactly half, when he drilled Salter to extra cover and into the hands of the diving Morgan.
Chris Read hit the first six of the contest, clearing the ropes at deep square leg after pulling a short ball from Walker.
Two further fours, one pulled, one driven, off Murphy, brought up the 50 partnership in only 12 overs.
In the final over before tea Wessels reached his own 50, hitting Luke Cheshire for a driven four and then an enormous six over deep midwicket. The ball clattered back off the top row of the stand, otherwise it would have been in the river.
Wessels retired at the break and Read (54 balls 7x4 2x6) soon joined him, getting to his 50 with a swept six off Carlson.
Salter (4-47) and Morgan (2-42) shared the final four wickets as the Notts innings closed at around 5.15pm.
Tom Moores was bowled for 27, Hutton (5) was trapped lbw and Fletcher (5) was also castled.
The end came when Gurney hoisted Salter high to mid on, where Jacques Rudolph took the offering.
As the final catch was taken, thoughts began to turn towards Friday and the start of the Specsavers County Championship. Glamorgan head to Northampton but all Nottinghamshire eyes will be on Grace Road for the clash against Leicestershire.
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