After bowling Warwickshire out for 263, Nottinghamshire stuttered to 43-6 in the final hour of an eventful first day of the LV= county championship match at Trent Bridge.
Put in, the visitors were indebted to a century from ground specialist Ian Bell, who reached 122, the fifth time he had reached three figures in Nottingham, before losing off stump to Andy Carter who finished with figures of 5-55.
The big fast bowler claimed his only 5-wicket haul in first class cricket when on loan to Essex in 2010, so was understandably pleased to break his duck for his home county.
“It’s my first for Notts and my first for four years so I’m very pleased to get it and hopefully there will be many more to come,” he said.
Carter missed most of last season with a stress fracture in his back but is now fit and healthy. “All credit to Jon Alty, our physio. He worked me really hard during the winter and now I’m getting the rewards for it. I’m high on confidence now, having perhaps been slightly lucky to start the season in the team because a few others were missing. I’ve got to keep performing now to stay in it.”
Mick Newell shared in Carter’s joy, “I’m very pleased for Carts – he offers us something very different, a bit of pace, a few bumpers and a bit of aggression.”
The director of cricket was less enamoured by the events at the end of the day. “The wicket didn’t appear to be doing an awful lot so we thought to get them out for 263 was a fair effort but we lost some pretty important wickets in that last session and I need to have another look at them on the video.
“Their bowlers bowled a pretty challenging line but I’m not sure where six wickets came from.”
With Chris Read having recovered from the shoulder injury he picked up at Lord’s Notts were unchanged, leaving Alex Hales, Ajmal Shahzad and Jake Ball as the unlucky trio to be omitted from the 14-man squad.
The template for a successful insertion is usually three wickets in the morning session and Notts achieved that as the visitors reached the interval on 94-3.
In just the second over of the match Varun Chopra survived a confident lbw shout against the bowling of Luke Fletcher but he didn’t prosper, falling for only two in the tenth over, nicking Harry Gurney to Steven Mullaney at second slip.
William Porterfield began fluently, twice driving Fletcher for early straight-boundaries, before clipping Peter Siddle off his hips to the shorter fence on the New Stand side.
Laurie Evans (13) departed in Carter’s initial over. His third delivery, a snorting rib-tickler, was obligingly fenced into the waiting hands of James Taylor at short leg.
The short boundary became a magnet for all of the batsmen and was proving difficult to defend. Ian Bell punched Fletcher to the ropes three times in the 23rd over, an over that not only cost 14 runs but also saw the England batsman have a life as Phil Jaques was unable to hold on to a difficult diving effort at midwicket.
Porterfield’s half century (66 balls 9x4) followed in the next over but on 56 he checked a return drive back to the waiting hands of Mullaney, again introduced into the attack just before lunch.
Warwickshire, having been 93-2, soon subsided to 118-5 as the home side struck twice upon the restart. Ateeq Javid (0) presented Siddle with his first wicket in Notts’ colours as he edged to Riki Wessels at first slip.
Carter, bowling with pace and bounce, troubled Tim Ambrose (6) during a hostile over which ended with the batsman losing his off bail.
Bell reached his fifty (80 balls 8x4 1x6), having helped Gurney over the ropes for a maximum, and found a willing partner in Chris Woakes.
The pair added 75 for the sixth wicket before Fletcher removed Woakes (27), thanks to another Wessels’ catch.
The visitors’ skipper moved to 99 not out but the saw two wickets fall at the other end, both to lbw decisions. Umpire Steve Garrett gave Gurney the decision against Keith Barker (9) and in the next over his colleague, David Millns, sent Jeetan Patel (5) on his way, giving Carter a third victim.
Bell’s fifth first class century (136 balls 16x4 1x6) arrived and he celebrated by lofting Carter over extra cover for another maximum.
The response was devastating – as Carter then knocked out Bell’s off stump with the batsman not attempting a shot.
Carter’s first 5-wicket haul for Nottinghamshire was completed by a fine diving catch by Fletcher at mid off, lunging forward to catch Chris Wright (2), leaving Oliver Hannon-Dalby unbeaten on 1.
Notts’ reply was soon in disarray as Wright and Barker ripped the heart out of the top order. Jaques (1), Mullaney (4) and Taylor (6) all fell to Wright, with the left-armer extracting Lumb’s (1) off stump.
Wessels (8) also went leg before, although it suspiciously looked like he may have got a piece of his bat on the Hannon-Dalby delivery.
If there was any scenario in which things could have been made worse it duly arrived. In the final over of the day Samit Patel (16 not out) and Luke Fletcher (2) both found themselves at the same end, with the nightwatchman being the one who had to leave after a straightforward run out.