NOTTS ON TOP AFTER DAY 2 AT CARDIFF DESPITE READ INJURY SCARE

Nottinghamshire enjoyed the better of the exchanges on the second day of their Specsavers County Championship match against Glamorgan at Cardiff.

Adding to first day centuries from Jake Libby and Riki Wessels, Chris Read scored 88 and Brett Hutton made 61 as Notts reached 448 before being bowled out.

A disciplined bowling performance then ripped through the home side as Glamorgan were bowled out for just 187 in 62.3 overs, leaving Notts with a first innings advantage of 261.

Luke Fletcher returned figures of three for 60, both Brett Hutton and Stuart Broad took two wickets and there were further successes for Harry Gurney and Samit Patel.

The biggest disappointment of the day concerned an injury to Chris Read that handicapped his innings and prevented him from taking to the field, leaving Steven Mullaney in charge of operations.

“He bottom-edged one from de Lange around his hip and it has swollen up, confirmed Peter Moores afterwards. “It’s sore but as much as anything it made him immobile, it’s locked up a little bit.

"He’s been icing it all afternoon and he’ll ice it tonight and we’ll see where he is for tomorrow morning but it looks doubtful if he’ll be able to keep but we’ll wait and see.”

The Head Coach revealed he was delighted with the score that his side posted. “It was a really good score on that pitch. A lot of the damage was done yesterday and then it was carried on today.

"I thought Brett Hutton played well and Chris did what he does and picked off the bad balls, so 448 was good. After we got to 400 we wanted to keep the game moving forward.”

Moores also praised his bowling unit. “Everybody chipped in. I thought we bowled some really good balls and did enough on that pitch to keep picking up wickets.

"There was some great catching and fielding. There was a good run out and outstanding catch by Pujara and a super catch by Luke Wood and I thought Steven Mullaney took a couple of good catches at slip.”

The Head Coach agreed that enforcing the follow-up was a strong possibility but added that there was no rush in making that decision. “That’s what you would expect but we’ll wait until the morning.

"We don’t have to make that decision now but we’re in a very strong position now. We’ll speak with Chris and Steven Mullaney and go from there.”

Nottinghamshire began the day on 335 for six in their first innings, with Read on 47 and Hutton unbeaten on five.

The opening hour of the day was interrupted by a 30-minute stoppage for rain, although by that stage Read had reached his half century, getting there from 71 balls with seven fours and a six.

Early in the resumption Hutton was felled by a sharp bouncer from Marchant de Lange but was thankfully uninjured. The same couldn’t be said of his captain, who had been limping for a while before receiving Steven Mullaney as his runner.

Read’s handicap was certainly a contributory factor in the dip in the scoring rate and meant Notts had to settle for four batting points, ending the 110^thover on 388 for six.

A further shower meant that lunch was taken around 20 minutes early but the overhead conditions improved sufficiently for a prompt restart.

Hutton moved to his 50 from 80 balls with six fours – his first half century away from Trent Bridge - but then lost his partner as Read pulled Lukas Carey into the hands of deep square leg Will Bragg.

Stuart Broad made 7 before being bowled, trying to heave Colin Ingram’s leg-spin over midwicket and then Hutton mistimed a pull to de Lange off Carey.

Van der Gugten claimed his fifth victim – and figures of five for 101 - by bowling Harry Gurney for one, leaving Luke Fletcher unbeaten on five.

Fletcher the batsman switched to Fletcher the bowler with good effect, as he created the initial breakthrough by having Nick Selman caught behind by stand-in ‘keeper Riki Wessels for seven.

Broad and Fletcher cranked up the pressure with neither Jacques Rudolph nor Bragg looking comfortable and the inevitable mistake occurred.

A full, quick delivery from the England man thudded into Bragg’s boots and brought a huge appeal. The ball ran away to square leg and the batsman was guilty of wandering forward, out of his ground.

Cheteshwar Pujara pounced and scored a direct hit with one stump to aim at to run out Bragg for five.

Rudolph, and fellow South African Ingram, added 27 up to the tea break but they were parted four balls into the final session.

Ingram, 9, drove at Hutton and was unluckily picked out of the sky by a leaping Mullaney at second slip.

Gurney then struck with the prized wicket of the Glamorgan captain, as Rudolph nicked on 25 to give Wessels his 100^th catch for Nottinghamshire.

Youngsters Aneurin Donald and David Lloyd fought back with an enterprising partnership of 72 for the fifth wicket – a stand that received a boost with six boundaries coming within the space of nine deliveries.

Their fun was ended by the returning Broad, who had Lloyd caught by Mullaney for 34 and followed up by bowling Chris Cooke for one.

Fletcher replaced Broad for his first spell at the Cathedral Road end and was rewarded with two similar wickets.

Donald, who had just passed his 50, heaved away towards the deep midwicket stands looking for six, only to be denied by an athletic and skilful catch by sub fielder Luke Wood.

Pujara then took a low catch in the same vicinity as de Lange looked to have success in the same area.

Patel deservedly got amongst the wickets as van der Gugten pulled him into the midriff of Broad at midwicket.

Salter and Carey had some fun in a last wicket stand of 25 in the closing overs but it all ended at around 7.10pm as Carey pulled Hutton into the safe hands of Fletcher.

Notts remain on course for their fourth championship win in a row but will assess the physical condition of all their bowlers before deciding whether to stick Glamorgan in again on the third morning.