Nottinghamshire Seconds staged a remarkable turnaround in their first Second XI Championship game of the season, scoring 381 on the final day to win by two wickets.
Northamptonshire had dominated day two, and declared early in the morning session on 240-8, leading by 375 runs.
But the Notts opening pair of Chris Gibson and Kamau Leverock weren’t daunted by the challenge, speeding to a half-century stand from just 43 balls.
The duo then raced each other to their individual fifties, Gibson reaching his from 38 balls, with Leverock taking 40.
Leverock was first to fall, lbw to Saif Zaib for 62, before Liam Patterson-White (7) and Sol Budinger (13) were dismissed by the same bowler either side of lunch.
Lyndon James, who had opened in the first innings, came in at 5 and played a fine supporting role as Gibson completed his century.
But James (28) and Gibson (105) were then dismissed within two overs of each other by Conor Haddow, with chances of victory looking in the balance at 224-5.
Sam Hall and Jordan Cook were the relatively new partnership, and both made promising starts before Cook (20) was pinned by Haddow and Hall (34) hit Zaib into the hands of Emilio Gay.
And when Jayden Schadendorf’s departure for 16 left Notts 70 runs short of their target with just two wickets remaining, the likelihood of success seemed remote.
But Louis Bhabra and Jack Blatherwick were resolute, seeing off both the new ball and Northants' best attempts to unsettle them by rotating the bowlers, and building a superb partnership.
Both finished unbeaten, and it was left to Blatherwick (43*) to hit the winning runs as he and Bhabra (48*) marshalled the seconds home to ensure they would begin the Championship campaign with a dramatic win.
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