Matt Milnes impressed with 2-19 off 14 overs as Nottinghamshire’s bowlers were made to toil against a strong Derbyshire side, who racked up 419-4 on day two of their Second XI County Championship clash at Lady Bay.
Warming up for their first-class opener against Middlesex on Friday, Ben Slater hit 221 not out and Daryn Smit 101 not out as nine different home bowlers were used in a bid to break the batsmen’s stranglehold.
Together, the pair put on an unbeaten 198 for the fifth wicket to make good first use of the wicket after Derbyshire chose to bat first, with the opening day of the three-day encounter having been lost to rain.
Notts got off to a decent start as Matt Milnes induced an edge from James Kettleborough (1) to be taken at slip by Matt Carter, making it 22-1.
That brought Harvey Hosein (45) together with Slater and they posted a century stand before Milnes bowled the latter with the score on 141-2.
After lunch, Slater completed his century with a six but Alex Hughes (11) soon departed as he was caught by keeper Tom Keast off Mark Footitt’s bowling.
Matthew Critchley (19) helped post the 200, but then picked out Milnes at mid-on from a delivery from Ben Kitt, leaving Derbyshire on 221-4.
That was as good as it got for Notts as the bowlers went wicketless for the rest of the day. By tea, the score had advanced to 307-4, with Slater on 178 and Smit on 33.
Opener Slater reached his 200 in the 81st over (263 balls, 24 fours, 5 sixes) after a brief delay for bad light, while Smit went to three figures in the penultimate over of the day from 148 balls with 10 fours.
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