Notts v Warwickshire April 15-18

Notts v Warwickshire April 15-18 County Championship

Neil Whitaker reports

Day 1
THE Nottinghamshire tail wagged on the first day after they had slumped to 119 for six with over half a day left.

Leading their fight back  was Sunderland born 22 year old Liam Patterson-White who was unbeaten on 73 from 106 balls in just over three hours beating his previous best score of 58 which he made against Yorkshire at Scarborough in 2019.

With Zac Chappell they added 163 for the ninth wicket in 22 overs.  The partnership was broken when  Chappell top edged Tim Bresnan to Sam  Hain at second slip who took the catch the second attempt.  Two balls later the Nottinghamshire innings was over when Dane Patterson clipped Bresnan  to Matt Lamb at mid wicket.

Patterson-White said: “We had to dig in and the main aim was to rebuild.  Batting at eight my job is to bat time and keep it simple. Today it flowed nicely for me, putting bat on ball when needed. We always talk about character and we have shown that today. We have taken a score near to 300 before the start of play.”

The Nottinghamshire tail started to wag with Tom Moores and Patterson-White who  got off the mark with a cover drive off Olly Stone to the boundary. On six, Moores clipped Rhodes off his legs but luckily for him Danny Briggs could only get his fingertips to it.  As Warwickshire tried to get their  over rate up Rhodes brought on Indian test player Hanuma Vihari, it was an experiment that was not repeated.  Moores pulled Vihari’s second ball for a huge six, two balls later Moores floated him for a straight four. 

After adding 63 in overs with Paterson-White, Moores was comprehensively bowled by Rhodes in the fourth over after tea when  Moores was beaten by pace and lost his off stump.

Stuart Broad had wild slashes to get three streaky boundaries.  He then produced the shot of the innings when stroked Rhodes through to the cover boundary. Rhodes brought Mark  Burgess up to the stumps and this field change must have upset Broad because he steered the next ball to Bresnan at  second slip who took a low catch.

Warwickshire captain Rhodes had a golden arm for the visitors as he took four wickets and executed a run out. The visitors came into this match with four main bowlers so Rhodes was expecting to bowl a lot of overs today than against Derbyshire. His first wicket can be called a bit of a fluke when Haseeb Hamed chipped a low full toss to Dom  Sibley at extra cover.  Instead of getting a boundary Haseeb had to turn around and make his way back to the pavilion.

The previous ball from Rhodes was also a low full toss and  Haseeb in a rare example of force hit it straight back expecting a boundary but he was denied when the ball smashed into the stumps knocking two of them out of the ground.    

Joe Clarke and youngster Lyndon James patiently tried to rebuild the  Nottinghamshire innings  but after they added 19 in six overs, Rhodes got the breakthrough by running James out.  Clarke pushed Stone out to mid off and set off for single, James responded but Clarke changed his mind and sent James back. But James couldn’t beat  Rhodes’ direct hit.

On 26 Nottinghamshire skipper Steven Mullaney edged  Bresnan to Sibley at second slip but he couldn’t hold on to it. In the next over after adding 61 in over with Clarke, Mullaney clipped Rhodes off his legs, and Vihari at mid wicket stuck out a hand and took a remarkable catch as he fell.  Vihari made his Championship debut replacing Craig Miles in a change from the Warwickshire side which played Derbyshire. 

Nottinghamshire were penalised five penalty runs when Burgess missed the delivery off a Briggs and the ball hit the helmet.

With 10 overs to face before stumps, Warwickshire lost their first wicket  when opener Yates bottom edged Chappell’s first ball and Moores took a simple catch.  Vihari batted for 38 minutes facing 23 balls and didn’t get off the mark.  Off the last ball of Broad’s fifth over Hameed at third slip took a snap low catch.

Patterson-White added: “In those 10 overs we put a lot of pressure on them and we comeback tomorrow even harder:”

Rhodes said: “ It’s been a pretty good day for us. It’s a great cricket wicket with plenty of pace.  We built pressure in stages and it would have been to get those last wickets earlier but Patterson-White and Chappell batted well.”

Nottinghamshire brought in South African Patterson, made his Championship debut, replacing Brett Hutton from last week, Chappell came in for Jake Ball and Broad replaced Luke Fletcher.
 
Mullaney won the toss and decided to bat but they nearly lost their first wicket to the first ball of the match when Ben Slater dabbed  Oliver Hanson-Daley into the covers, set off for a single and Slater just beat  Briggs throw.  In the next over he edged Stone just short off Hain at second slip.

On two, Hameed drove Hannon-Dolby and got a thick edge to it but Yates at second slip dropped it.  To rub salt in Hanson-Dolby’s wounds Hameed chopped the next ball to third man for three.

Warwickshire eventually got the early breakthrough when Slater drove Stone edged it and Hain at third slip took the catch,  be it at the second attempt.

Another player who found runs hard to by was  Joe Clarke it took him 53 balls to hit his first boundary when drove Hanson-Dalby straight through mid  off.  After waiting so long for his first boundary he hit Stone for  a couple of boundaries by Clarke.  Being hit for those two boundaries Stone got his gander up and bowled out a fast  short delivery which Clarke tried to hit him with an horizontal bat but top edged it to stumper Burgess.

Bresnan shaped one back into Duckett and trapped him leg before.

For Warwickshire the other change from last was Stone who  came in for Liam Norwell were the Warwickshire changes from their previous match.

Day 2
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE ended the second day in a strong position with a lead of 200 with  seven wickets second innings wickets standing.

At tea on the second day Nottinghamshire’s overseas player Dane Paterson must have wondered if he was ever going to get a wicket in this match but in truth  he didn’t look like he was going to. He even put down a return catch but it was off a no ball. It was night watchman Danny Briggs. Paterson even had a chance put down in the slips.

But after tea Paterson mopped up the tail by taking three wickets in seven balls without conceding a run.  He got his first Championship wicket in the first over after tea when he got one to rise up and took the shoulder of Tim Bresnan’s bat. The ball went that high that it seemed to take an age to drop into Haseeb Hameed’s hands at third slip.  Nottinghamshire had taken a wicket in the first over in each session of the day 

In his next over Paterson got his second wicket when Michael Burgess played an ugly shot around a straight ball and was leg before.  Three balls later he pinned Oliver Hannon-Dalby back and was leg before. Those three quick wickets put Nottinghamshire in charge of the match.

Paterson said: “Finally I got a wicket, I just had to stay in the game. As a bowling unit we are very happy, with a lead of 200 we’ve had a good day. It will be an interesting last innings to chase the runs down.

I had to stay mentally strong and not get mad at myself. Stuart Broad brings so much experience and makes it look so easy because he works hard in the nets. I am learning from him to keep it simple.

The youngsters at the club are quite good and I am surprised at how young they are which is good for the county.”

Nottinghamshire got off to the best possible start of the second striking  with the first legal ball of the day. Broad adjusted his line, after he was clipped off his legs the ball before which was a no ball, squared Will  Rhodes up and took his outside edge to give Tom Moores his 100th first class victim.  Moores tally includes 98 catches and two stumpings. 

Then they had to wait till the third ball of the first over after lunch for their next wicket but they only had themselves to blame.  Without adding to his score he was dropped by Lyndon James at slip off Paterson as slip catchers go it was a sitter.

Throughout his innings Warwickshire’s Sam Hain rarely looked in trouble and looked on course for a century or at the very least getting his best score against Nottinghamshire.  On 24 he nicked Paterson just wide of James at first slip and the ball  raced to the boundary.  He glanced Zac Chappell off his legs to the fine leg boundary to bring up the Warwickshire hundred. Hain reached his fifty which came from 95 balls and included five fours by placing Broad through the covers.

Hain gracefully placed Chappell to the cover boundary to bring up the Warwickshire 150.  A couple of balls later Chappell took the shoulder of Hain’s bat and the ball flew past Duckett at second slip for a couple.

But just as you felt this was going to be Hain’s day he fell short of beating his highest score against Nottinghamshire of 76 when Liam Patterson-White was recalled to the attack. Hain pushed forward at his fourth ball and was plumb leg before.

Hain said: “We’re behind the eight ball so we’ve got to show a lot of character tomorrow to get some wickets to get back in the game. But I’ll back our boys to get us back in the game.  We’ll take it one ball at a time, you never know what will happen.

I think it’s a momentum pitch and wickets have fallen in clusters and the odd one is keeping low.”

Broad got his second wicket of the day and his 150th first class wicket for Nottinghamshire, with his third ball of the afternoon when Briggs moved across his stumps and was trapped leg before.  With Hain, Briggs added 83 for the fourth wicket, but sadly nowhere near breaking the record Warwickshire fourth wicket partnership against Nottinghamshire. That is 402 between Rohan Kanhai in June 1968 at Trent Bridge.  Night watchman Briggs defied the Nottinghamshire bowlers for 128 minutes.

22 year old James, born in Worksop,was brought into the attack and struck with his first ball when Matt Lamb without moving his feet edged a drive. Ben Duckett took a goo low catch at second slip.

Leading by 72 Nottinghamshire lost their first second innings wicket in the second over when Ben Slater was stuck in his crease by Olly  Stone and was plum leg before.

Duckett hit three widish deliveries from Bresnan  to the boundary to take Nottinghamshire’s lead to nelson.

Duckett and Haseeb rarely looked in trouble against the Warwickshire bowlers and a back foot drive by Haseeb brought up the fifty partnership in 14 overs. Then Rhodes brought himself back on and he got a wicket with his second ball with one that kept low and Duckett was leg before.

By the time that Haseeb and Joe Clarke had added 20 in six overs the Warwickshire fielders looked dejected and a beaten side, there was no chatter from them encouraging the bowlers.

Clarke late cut Hannon-Darby twice in the same over to the third man boundary, the second brought up the fifty partnership.

Just before lunch Warwickshire announced that Dom Sibley would not bat in their first innings and would only bat in their second innings if required after he suffered a small fracture of his second finger on his left hand.

Day 3
ALL that stands between Nottinghamshire and their first County Championship match victory at Trent Bridge for three years are seven Warwickshire wickets on the final day.

Nottinghamshire were dismissed in their second innings six overs after tea leaving Warwickshire to get an unlikely 333 to win in 130 overs. Stuart Broad was all over the Warwickshire openers Rhodes and Rob Yates and it looked like the match wouldn’t make it into the final day.

After surviving two previous leg before appeals from Broad for getting hit outside the line Yates couldn’t survive the third, a ball which kept low.

Hanuma Virhari’s poor debut continued when he was beaten by Lyndon James and missed a straight ball.  Sam Hain and skipper Will Rhodes added 51 for the third wicket before Rhodes was adjudged leg before to Liam Patterson-White three balls left in the day.

Nottinghamshire skipper Steven Mullaney said: “We might only need six wickets  if Dominic Sibley dosen’t bat, so we should be confident.  We’ll being going out tomorrow with the same focus to take each session as it comes. Being calm is the most important thing that we have to do.  Tomorrow Sam Hain is a big wicket to get tomorrow. We’ll dust ourselves off and comeback tomorrow.”
 
Patterson-White has had a fantastic game and taking that last is just reward for him because he has bowled his heart out and got into a good groove. He has backed Broad up really well.

Warwickshire got an early breakthrough in the fifth over of the day when Rhodes got his sixth wicket of the match. Haseeb fished at  a straight ball from Rhodes and edged him to Burgess after adding two to his overnight score.

In Rhodes next over the Warwickshire players went up for a catch behind as they thought James had edged Him to Burgess but umpire Neil Mallender was unmoved.

Warwickshire did get their second wicket in the next over when Clarke edged one that pitched on off stump and just moved a fraction from James. Clarke had added six from Friday. But there were no more additions to the wickets coloumn until after lunch and twhen they did come they came in a rush.

To Warwickshire’s credit they made Nottinghamshire fight for their runs but they couldn’t get wickets quick enough, in the morning session they restricted Nottinghamshire to 60 runs in 32 overs but they only got two wickets.

In the afternoon session they took four wickets for three runs in 15 balls and spinner Danny Briggs got three of them. The first to go was Mullaney when he cut a wide ball from Briggs to Yates at point who didn’t have to. 

Mullaney’ s  knock included four fours and a six in his 130 minute innings.  Briggs got on a hat trick when he turned one out of the footholes to beat Patterson-White’s drive and bowled him.  Briggs didn’t get the hat trick but Tom Moores played on the ball after.

Oliver Hannon-Dalby was brought back into the attack and he struck with his first ball when Broad fended off a short ball to Hain at second slip.  Dane Paterson got off the mark with a four through covers and Zac Chappell took Nottinghamshire’s lead past 300 when he blasted Briggs for a one bounce four over long on.

After tea Paterson and Chappell quickly added 30 runs in five overs off the new ball so Rhodes brought back Briggs and he ended the Nottinghamshire innings when Paterson toe ended Briggs and Hannon-Dalby took a steapling catch to end the Nottinghamshire innings.

Briggs finished with four for 68 before he took his first wicket he had gone 60 runs. He said: “I think we had a decent day. We dried the run rate up and picked up wickets at the end.  They only opened up when we got near to the new ball which opened up opportunities for me.

It was unfortunate that we lost Rhodes at the end but he showed what you can do if you apply yourself. Hopefully the middle order and lower order can follow his lead.”

After losing those two early wickets Nottinghamshire gradually took the match out  Warwickshire’s hands.  Mullaney and James added 47 in 23 overs to the lunch interval.  The only time Warwickshire looked taking a wicket was when Rhodes squared James up on five who edged it just short off Bresnan at slip and ran for four.

Mullaney pulled Olly Stone to square leg boundary to bring up the fifty partnership with James off 159 balls.  The partnership was broken when James was beaten by Stone’s pace and the ball thudered into James’ pad and was leg before. He had batted for 125  minutes and faced 103 balls.

Mullaney went dow the track to Briggs and lofted over long for a big six.  Three balls later Briggs was hit for another six, this time it was by Moores and was an even bigger six over long.

Day 4
VETERAN  Tim Bresnan rolled back the years and shared in the biggest partnership of the match worth 113 with Olly Stone as Warwickshire fought hard to beat Nottinghamshire by three wickets  at Trent Bridge.  

Nottinghamshire’s defeat means their three year search for a championship victory at Trent Bridge goes on, for Warwickshire it was their third successive championship victory at Trent Bridge.  Nottinghamshire Head coach Peter Moores said: “You feel gutted after a game like that when you’ve put your heart and soul into it.  Everyone in the dressing room will be hurting.  Yesterday we were favourites  but at lunchtime they were back in it then we take three quick wickets. I thought Bresnan and Stone batted really well and that’s what makes four day cricket what it is and it’s hard to win.  We’ve got to take it on the chin and in the next few days get ready for the next game at Worcester.

The pitch dried and there was a bit of rough outside the off stump for the left handlers to deal with.   It lost a bit of pace but it still had plenty of carry.”

It was fitting that Bresnan should hit the winning runs at 6.01 when he guided Dan Paterson through the covers for a couple. The pair came together when a Nottinghamshire victory was a certainty because Warwickshire had lost three wickets in 14 balls for eight runs and were still 143 behind. Bresnan was peppered with short stuff from Stuart Broad but most were well short and didn’t force Bresnan to play a shot.

Bresnan clipped Lyndon James off his toes to the mid wicket boundary to bring up the fifty partnership in 113 balls and brought the victory target below 100.  In the next over he glanced Steven  Mullaney just wide of Haseeb Hameed at slip to the third man boundary to take him two short off his fifty moments later he reached his  fifty from 95 balls with seven fours in 139 minutes.

Stone was the silent partner but he did have his moments when he made room for himself and drove Paterson to the cover boundary and when clipped Zac Chappell for a single to bring up the 100 partnership.

The pressure of the situation got to Chappell and ball slipped out of Chappell’s hand and went for five wides.  Three balls later Stone clipped Chappell off his toes for a four to the fine leg boundary to take the target below 40 with 20 overs left and Stone to his highest score so far for Warwickshire.  That was the moment you knew that it wasn’t to be a Nottinghamshire victory.

Mullaney brought Broad was brought back into the attack for one last throw  and with his fifth ball he got the breakthrough when Stone edged a drive to Tom  Moores.  Could Nottinghamshire do it after all. In his next over he found the edge of Bresnan’s bat  Moores had the ball but dropped it as he went to his right. That would have been the match for Nottinghamshire. With 32 runs needed.  Bresnan ended the over by edging Broad wide off the two slips to the third man boundary.

Bresnan and Stone got Warwickshire close to the winning post the foundations of their victory were laid in the morning by Sam Hain and Matt Lamb.  Hain’s 206 minute mammoth innings ended in the second over after lunch when went forward to Paterson and managed to kiss the ball to Moores who took a low catch.  His 57 included seven fours from 152 balls.

It was his second fifty of the match and he endured a torrid over of pace from Broad. Broad had been brought back into the attack and Hain swayed, ducked and even ran out of the way of the ball. It was reminiscent of the over that Allan Donald bowled to Mike Atherton in 1998. The fifth ball fifth did hit Hain. The nex over was just as fierce from and the last ball hit Hain on the helmet and ran for four leg byes.

Moores added: “Broad played it like a test match with his attitude and approach, I cannot ask for any more than that he gave everything. He lead the attack and put in a massive shift today.”

Warwickshire coach Mark Robinson said: “You were never in on that pitch.  It was a great advert for the four day game but someone has to lose and I feel for them because they’ve played their part in a great game. Today the first half hour was really important. Hain took a couple of blows but he stuck at it.  It was compelling stuff.”

He revealed that Dom Sibley who did not bat in the Warwickshire first innings would have batted.  Robinson said: “He was desperate to bat and when target got to 50 he was ready to bat.

Hain added 11 to his overnight score when he played and at a Jaffa from  that man Broad and was fortunate that it missed the shoulder of his bat.
Hain reached his fifty when he pushed James out into the offside for a couple.  His fifty came from 117 balls in 162 minutes with six fours. With Lamb they added 89 in 33 overs, in the morning session they kept the Nottinghamshire bowlers at bay for 32 overs adding 83.

Lamb edged Paterson low down and it would have been a marvellous catch had Moores taken on 15.  A low full toss from Liam Patterson-White dispatched by Lamb to the mid wicket boundary brought up the fifty partnership in 20 overs.  He reached his fifty when he pushed Mullaney out in the covers for a single but in the next over he lost his off stump to Paterson without adding to his score.  In Paterson’s next over he sent Michael Burgess’ leg stump flying out of the ground.  

MATCH SCORECARD

April 16, 2021 9:55 am

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