Nottinghamshire maintained their unbeaten start to the LV= County Championship season when the final day of their match against Surrey ended in a draw.
With so much of the Trent Bridge contest lost to rain, the day was solely about collecting bonus points, with Notts collecting three for their batting as they extended their first innings total to 328, with Chris Read making 98 and Stuart Meaker claiming 5-78 for the visitors.
Surrey were left with 57 overs to bat and made 252-6, as Andre Adams secured the four wickets he needed to reach fifty for the season.
The day’s biggest talking point was the captains being unable to agree on a target for a run-chase.
“Both sides had their own ideas of how they thought they could win the game,” said Read.
“But unfortunately they weren’t very well aligned. What Surrey wanted to chase was not acceptable to us and what we thought was fair they thought was too many. Such is life, that’s the way it goes sometimes.”
Read left the action just after tea but brushed off any injury scares. “I got one on the end of the index finger and it was throbbing for a couple of overs so I thought it was prudent to nip off and get some ice on it. I’ll see how it goes but should be alright for the match tomorrow.”
A busy day for the skipper had also seen him miss out on a century. “It didn’t really bounce, to be fair and would probably have got me out most times. I’m fairly philosophical about these things and all in all it’s been quite a good day all round.”
Having spent two and a half days with an unbeaten 49 alongside his name, Read’s fifty came up from the first ball of the day, as he punched a full toss from Chris Jordan to the cover ropes. A similar shot, later in the same over, completed a century stand between the Notts skipper and Adam Voges.
The Australian also moved on to his half century but fell soon afterwards, for 59, trapped leg before to Jon Lewis after a stand of 145.
Ben Phillips was quickly into his stride, clouting a mighty six from Tim Linley into the Larwood and Voce Stand. Read, meanwhile was closing in on his second ton of the year but tragically fell just two runs short.
A full, pacy delivery from Meaker, which may have kept a touch low, blasted through the defences of the batsman and removed both off and middle stumps.
Either side of the luncheon interval, Phillips and Andre Adams added 24 in typically unconventional fashion before the final three wickets fell in the space of eight deliveries for no runs.
Adams (14) pulled Meaker to long on, where Jason Roy took a low, well-judged catch. Three balls later the same bowler took his fifth wicket as Phillips (47) pulled high to square leg.
Last man Harry Gurney perished without scoring, lifting Murali Kartik to mid off, leaving Andy Carter unbeaten on nought.
Left-handers Zafar Ansari and Rory Burns were largely untroubled in putting on 83 for the opening wicket, in the 27 overs available before tea.
Burns led the way, reaching a fine fifty (82 balls 5x4) just before the break. Upon the resumption he should have fallen immediately. Pulling Gurney, the ball flew high to Samit Patel running in from midwicket but the England man put down the routine chance.
The home side didn’t have to wait long for a success however, as Carter knocked back Ansari’s (31) off stump in the next over. New batsman Jason Roy, on his 22nd birthday, began with a flurry of attacking shots, including a blow from Gurney which sailed over midwicket for six.
With Surrey chasing runs, in the last hour of the day, Roy clubbed Patel into the lower Radcliffe Road Stand to bring up his fifty (37 balls 6x4 2x6).
Andre Adams picked up his first wicket of the match – and 47th of the season – as he yorked Burns (79) with the first delivery of a new spell to reduce the visitors to 167-2 and two balls later he had another, as de Bruyn (0) gloved a legside ball to Riki Wessels, keeping wicket with Read off the field. Steven Davies (3) then became Adams’ third victim as he nicked off to Voges at second slip.
Jason Roy (83) had more fun as he clubbed a total of five sixes, the last two being reverse-sweeps off Patel, who then found a bit of turn and had the batsman stumped by Wessels.
Adams fiftieth championship wicket of the summer was Spriegel (17), who was clean-bowled, thereby nailing another bowling point for the home side.
The only remaining issue would be if Surrey would get their third batting point and Meaker and Jordan got there in the last over of a very compelling day.
Both sides took a total of eight points from the contest, meaning that Notts remain undefeated and lie one point behind Warwickshire, who still have a game in hand. Surrey nudge back above Worcestershire and out of the relegation zone.