Ben Slater’s authoritative 140 saw Nottinghamshire secure a first-innings lead on day three of their LV= Insurance County Championship clash with Middlesex.
Slater’s seven-hour stay at the crease was aided and abetted by Joe Clarke (70) and Matt Montgomery (52), with the former passing 1,000 First-Class runs for the season.
Calvin Harrison and Brett Hutton’s late cameos helped to push the hosts towards 384, with visiting spinner Josh de Caires taking 3/56.
Nottinghamshire had resumed on 92 for two, and advanced to 201 for three in 31 overs by lunch.
Slater and Clarke feasted readily on any width, the former going to fifty from 93 balls with the first scoring shot of the morning, cut to the offside boundary for his ninth four.
Clarke completed his half-century from 114 balls with seven fours, before being trapped by a Jayant Yadav delivery that kept low when on 70.
The partnership with Slater, whom he’d joined at 35 for two, added 134, after which Slater was outpaced by Montgomery, as the latter reached 50 from 48 balls and the fourth wicket put on 70.
Montgomery was dismissed by de Caires, before Tom Helm found a thin edge off Tom Moores in the next over.
Slater went to his hundred, his second of the campaign, from 208 balls – and after Lyndon James departed having played some eye-catching shots in his brief stay, Harrison produced a mature knock of 27 before being caught behind.
With Hutton for company, Slater wiped out the deficit in the next 10 overs before the pull shot that had accounted for a good proportion of his 20 boundaries finally let him down and he was caught on the midwicket boundary.
Hutton, having already hit one lofty maximum, holed out off de Caires, before Jake Ball departed following a switch-hit four, Notts securing an 18-run lead.
Middlesex were able to reduce those arrears by 10 before the light closed in.
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