Fresh off the back of his maiden first-class century on Day Two against Somerset in Taunton, all-rounder Liam Patterson-White has talked of his pleasure upon reaching the milestone.
“I’m absolutely delighted. I made my debut here a couple of years ago, so to come back is a nice feeling, and it’s especially nice to score some runs,” he said.
“Days like these don’t come along often, so you have to savour them when they do.”
Patterson-White’s hundred arrived on an utterly dominant day for Nottinghamshire, who, having resumed on 282 for six, went on to post 488 all out, before reducing Somerset to 87 for seven at the close.
His ton came off 116 deliveries, and prior to pushing Jack Leach into the covers for a single to reach it, he spent eight deliveries on the nerve-jangling score of 99.
“The heart was definitely racing, as much as I didn’t show it!” smiled Patterson-White. “It’s all about, though, realising that it is just one run, regardless of the situation I was in.
“When you realise that, it is possible to just keep calm and collected, and at the end of the day, I did what I needed to do.”
He was eventually dismissed for 101 to rapturous applause from the Taunton crowd, and the Green and Golds followed up their strong performance with the bat with a similarly dominant showing with the ball.
The hosts lost an early wicket at the hands of Luke Fletcher, and then collapsed throughout the evening, losing six wickets for 36 runs as Fletcher (4-21), Dane Paterson (2-34) and Brett Hutton (1-30) ripped through the order.
“Everyone’s delighted,” said Patterson-White. “It’s been a great day of cricket for us, and we’ll come back even stronger tomorrow.
"Overall, the vibe in the changing room is brilliant. We have some really strong players, and to get Somerset seven down at the end of the day is absolutely fantastic.
"Luke Fletcher getting to 50 wickets for the season already, with three full games still to come, is a great achievement.
"Full credit to him, and credit to all the bowlers, who put in a great shift for 30 overs to enable us to come out firmly on top."
Notts may hold a clear advantage at the halfway stage of the clash, but Patterson-White remains grounded, expressing his eagerness for the team to not lose sight of their objectives.
“The first target is of course to bowl them out,” he stated.
“It might get to the stage where we could be looking at making them follow on, but we’ll see in the morning, and we know as long as we can continue to play at our best we’ll do well.”
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Having secured more points than any other side during the conference stage of the 2021 LV= Insurance County Championship season, Nottinghamshire will play two further home fixtures in the top section of the divisional rounds.
Lancashire and Yorkshire are the visitors to Trent Bridge with four day matches commencing at 10.30am on 5 and 21 September respectively.