Following the opening day of Nottinghamshire’s LV= County Championship fixture against Leicestershire at Grace Road, Kevin Shine was pleased to see standards rise among the Green and Golds’ bowling attack.

Notts worked hard for their rewards in the first half of a testing day, but a late fightback, spearheaded by three wickets from Liam Patterson-White, saw the hosts reach 340/8 at stumps.

“In the first session, we probably didn’t reach the standards that we normally set ourselves,” admitted Shine, “and we’re very honest about that.

“We thought that we improved throughout the day, though, and then we definitely got back to where we wanted to be by the end of it. It was a strong finish.”

Patterson-White came in for particular praise from Shine, as the Assistant Coach explained how the Academy graduate’s technique allows him to slot seamlessly into the attack.

In addition, the 24-year-old also, according to Shine, provides a quality which he noted as scarce among spinners, and it is that which gives the Green and Gold's coaching staff confidence.

“Our fast bowlers have been a brilliant unit for the past two years, but they’ve been brilliantly supported by Liam as well, so I’m never surprised when he gets wickets,” said Shine.

“That’s what he does, and he’s a genuine wicket-taking spinner, which is very rare in this country. We weren’t surprised by that, but we were definitely very pleased.”

Earlier in the day, Lewis Hill and Colin Ackermann both hit centuries as the Grace Road surface, despite appearing green at first glance, offered less help to the bowlers than may have been initially thought.

Shine declared the initial look of the surface was of one that may have afforded some assistance to the bowlers, but noted the importance of looking beyond the first glance in order to truly assess the pitch.

“We thought it was a good pitch,” said Shine. “It had a little bit of carry without being too fast, and the ball swung throughout the day.

“It probably didn’t do as much off the seam as we might have thought it would, to say it had a decent bit of grass on it, but we thought it was good overall.”

Senior seamers James Pattinson, Brett Hutton, and Dane Paterson all extracted a little lateral movement from the surface, but the hosts negotiated their spells to ensure they had lost only four wickets by tea.

Initially, it appeared as though a day where scalps would be taken with more regularity was on the cards, as Pattinson struck with only the tenth ball of the day.

However, Shine was happy to afford credit to Leicestershire, noting that the hosts pragmatically went about their task with bat in hand to build themselves a lead.

“You always hope that it will be a day for the bowlers!” he smiled. “But, you have to say they played very well. Colin Ackermann in particular came in and played well.

“We just started to knuckle down then and began to put the ball in the areas we wanted to put it in. That’s what we’ve done for the past two years, and it showed that when we did it, they had to work hard for their runs.

“The simple strategy is to try and squeeze, and that’s what we’ve done very well for the past couple of years, but it’s perhaps what we didn’t do too well in the first session,” explained Shine.

Though admitting he was initially displeased, the 53-year-old went on to express his satisfaction with how Notts gave as good as they got as the day wore on.

“In the afternoon, though, we started to squeeze back, which is what we look to do – to create pressure and then pass that on.

“The game moves quickly now; in one session you can get hurt, but you’ve got time to get things back, and that’s what we certainly did by the end of the day.”

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