Nottinghamshire's LV= Insurance County Championship fixture at Emirates Old Trafford finally commenced after two days of rain, as the Green and Golds made steady progress with the ball.

Two bonus points were collected across the morning and afternoon sessions, before rain halted play and bad light brought proceedings to an end after 69 of the 104 scheduled overs were played.

Looking to quickly add points to the seemingly inevitable five for a draw, skipper Steven Mullaney opted to bowl first as Notts won the toss and named an unchanged XI from that which earned a valuable draw at Kent last time out.

Lancashire’s openers - Luke Wells and Keaton Jennings - made a valiant stand with the hosts hoping to score quick runs against the clock. The pair mustered 84 between them from just 122 deliveries before Asitha Fernando bowled straight through Wells to make Nottinghamshire’s first breakthrough.

The first wicket appeared to open the floodgates; Mullaney was too in on the act exactly an over later, finding the front pad of Jennings to deny the batsman a half-century on the day he reached 10,000 First Class career runs.

After Fernando followed-up with an exquisite maiden over, Mullaney ensured a captain’s contribution was made when he was edged through to Tom Moores by Josh Bohannon; three wickets for just seven runs in the space of four overs for the visitors.

George Bell and Steven Croft then steadied proceedings for Lancashire, the former collating 26 from 46 before suffering the same fate as Wells at the hands of the marauding Fernando.

Brett Hutton, who led the wicket-taking charts ahead of this fixture, fell behind Simon Harmer in the standings, but added his 55th County Championship scalp of the year with a feathered edge to Moores by George Balderson.

It was then Calvin Harrison’s turn to get involved, leading Steven Croft to Montgomery at short leg to earn his first of the contest, wrapping up a productive day at the office despite the two-day setback presented by the stereotypical Manchester rain.

With two bowling bonus points in the bag, Peter Moores’ side head into the final day hoping to earn the maximum, with the prospect of a turn with the bat still in sight.