Despite two wickets for Liam Patterson-White, Nottinghamshire found their toil to be in vain on a tough third day of their LV= County Championship clash with Glamorgan in Cardiff.
Patterson-White returned the innings’ best figures as Brett Hutton, Steven Mullaney, and Luke Fletcher also all picked up a single wicket each, but centuries for Eddie Byrom and Sam Northeast saw the hosts dominate.
Having resumed on 53/0 for an overall lead of 86, Byrom made 144 and Northeast posted 105, as David Lloyd and Billy Root also both hit fifties in a second innings total of 421/5 declared.
That left the Green and Golds with seven overs to see out at the end of the day, and after losing Haseeb Hameed, it fell to Ben Slater and Matt Montgomery to see the visitors through to 19/1 at stumps.
Earlier, conditions in the Welsh capital remained as tropical as they had on the first two days, and the skies appeared even clearer than 24 hours previously.
In such ideal batting conditions, Notts’ heavy exertion went unrewarded, as openers Lloyd and Byrom resisted for almost the entire morning.
Byrom was first to fifty, before Lloyd followed him midway through the session, as the pair added another 100 runs to their overnight total, with the former going on to hit his individual century in 154 balls.
The last laugh of the morning did at least go the way of the Green and Golds, as Lloyd found himself caught low down by Montgomery at first slip off Hutton, though the hosts took lunch on 172/1.
Lloyd’s replacement Colin Ingram proved equally stubborn, as he and Byrom took the score close to 250, before Patterson-White’s double intervention provided Notts with some reward.
First, he engineered the end of Ingram’s stay as he saw the South African nick behind to Joe Clarke for 33, before he was able to prise Byrom away from the middle in his next over by pinning him lbw with one that kept low.
Five overs later, Mullaney put himself on the board as Clarke claimed his second catch of the innings to see off Kiran Carlson for two, concluding a passage of play that saw Glamorgan lose three for 14.
From that point on, however, it was further struggle for Notts, as Root and Northeast remained unmoved up to tea, which arrived with the hosts 302/4.
The pair went on to add another 107 in the evening, with Northeast making fifty just before the total passed 350, and Root doing the same shortly after it had hit 400.
Fletcher was able to dislodge Root via another Clarke catch, but the near-final act of the innings saw Northeast become the second centurion of the day before the declaration arrived.
Slater and Montgomery were able to display the same stubbornness as their hosts in the short time that was available, as they recovered from the loss of Hameed, bowled by Michael Hogan.
Their tenacity in guiding Notts through a cross-examination at the very end of the day ensured Glamorgan did not have everything their own way, and the duo will aim to repeat their doggedness in tomorrow’s final day.
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