Fifties for Ben Martindale, Freddie McCann, and Matt Montgomery, followed by another productive session for the entire bowling attack, gave Nottinghamshire a near-ideal second day against Oxford UCCE at The Parks.
McCann was the top scorer of the trio with 83, while Montgomery made 77 and Martindale hit 76 as the Green and Golds piled up 358 all out, giving them a lead of 144.
James Hayes then led the bowling efforts with a return of 2/34, alongside wickets for Brett Hutton, Rob Lord, and Farhan Ahmed, to reduce the hosts to 69-5 at stumps, still 75 in arrears.
Following the overnight not-out retirement of Ben Slater, after which the visitors resumed effectively on 64-1, McCann and Martindale put on 89, before the former and Montgomery added a further 84.
Those weighty partnerships added up to take the total beyond 230, after which further contributions down the order steered Notts past 350 in the face of George Taylor’s four wickets.
Academy graduate Lyndon James had taken over from Slater as captain, and his first 20 overs in the field as skipper proved very productive, with the attack returning five Oxford wickets in just 20 overs before stumps.
Hayes was the standout in terms of wickets, removing Amogh Karpe and Aditya Kumar in the space of two overs, but Hutton’s opening spell was just as impactful.
The right-armer conceded a miserly total of just five runs in his six overs, as well as again removing Zaid Faleel to give the opener a pair.
Meanwhile, Lord claimed 1/17, taking the wicket of Oxford captain Ayush Patel, and Ahmed returned 1/11 by bowling Max Wood to set Notts up for a victory push on the third and final day.
View the full scorecard here.