Luke Fletcher picked up four wickets as Nottinghamshire roared back with intent to rip through Leicestershire on a fast-moving first day of their LV= County Championship clash at Trent Bridge that saw 20 wickets fall.
Fletcher found plentiful seam movement in almost ideal bowling conditions after tea to take figures of 4-23 in eight overs as he spearheaded the Foxes’ ending on 93 all out in their first innings.
Notts had earlier posted 201 all out in their first innings after being inserted, as Matt Montgomery – making his maiden First-Class appearance at Trent Bridge – top-scored with 43, before closing on 15/0 in their second.
The day belonged to the bowlers, however, with Fletcher leading the way through his eight rampant overs to ensure the Green and Golds exerted a grip after the first act of this East Midlands derby drama.
As County Championship cricket returned to Nottingham for the first time in 39 days, the hosts were put in to bat by visiting captain Callum Parkinson, but suffered the early losses of both Haseeb Hameed and Ben Slater.
However, Montgomery and Joe Clarke fought back with a resistant partnership to nullify Leicestershire’s initial charge, with Clarke in particular looking particularly obdurate as he waited 32 balls for his first runs.
Free-scoring it may not have been, but the third-wicket stand was effective as the duo added 57 to guide the Green and Golds through to lunch without further loss at 82/2.
Clarke did fall shortly after the first break for 20, but Montgomery continued on and pushed Notts past three figures prior to his own departure, after which captain Steven Mullaney took up the mantle.
He shepherded the lower order with a well-made 21, in particular adding an important 38 with Tom Moores to see the hosts close to a first batting bonus point.
Mullaney’s departure came with the Green and Golds 30 short of the 200 required for that bonus point, but some late swings of the willow from last man Dane Paterson enabled them to secure it prior to being all out.
Paterson and his seam bowling colleagues then took up their job with devastating effectiveness from the off, as Leicestershire’s first innings lasted just 29.5 overs from first ball to last.
The tone was set when Fletcher saw Hassan Azad caught behind for one in the fifth over, and by the end of the 11th, had secured three more to leave the Foxes flailing at 32/4.
The largest partnership of the innings numbered just 26, put on for the sixth wicket between Ed Barnes and the unbeaten Sam Evans, and once the former had been removed to crack that nut, the slide continued.
Brett Hutton picked up where Fletcher had left off, being the man to bowl Barnes and end his comparatively lengthy eight-over resistance, before also seeing Roman Walker and Chris Wright held in the field.
Alongside Hutton, Paterson – whose second wicket, that of Parkinson, was his 100th First-Class dismissal in Green and Gold – played his part in ripping through the lower order, as he also saw off Harry Swindells for one.
It eventually fell to Liam Patterson-White to formally wrap things up, as he bowled Michael Finan for four, handing Notts a three-figure first-innings advantage in the process.
That advantage was then calmly driven home in the two remaining overs as Slater and Hameed, in the middle for the second time inside a day, negotiated the two remaining overs at the tail end.
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The Royal London Cup Final
The timeless pomp, ceremony and tradition of county cricket's historic 50-over final is soon to take place at Trent Bridge.
Lancashire and Kent will go head-to-head in the showpiece finale of the Royal London Cup at our historic home on Saturday 17 September.