Rain prevented Nottinghamshire from claiming victory over Oxford UCCE but assistant manager Wayne Noon was still reasonably content with the performance of the team.

Resuming their second innings on 140-3, Notts extended their 198-run lead to 387 thanks to an unbeaten 90 from Bilal Shafayat, while Akhil Patel finished 69 not out.

The pair put on 130 for the sixth wicket in good time to allow Notts to declare on 293-5 at lunch, but two stoppages for rain in the afternoon and evening session meant the match petered out into a draw, with Andy Carter and Kevin O’Brien both picking up a wicket as Oxford finished on 151-2.

Noon was particularly pleased to see two more batsmen make significant contributions following Will Jefferson’s 133 and Alex Hales’ unbeaten 53 in the first innings and said: “We saw four batsmen get some good time in the middle and fingers crossed, the four of them can take this on from here.

“We saw a different Bilal batting from the second evening, where he made sure he was not out. Today he batted with fluency, and he and Akhil were very positive and ran well between the wickets. It should be good for his confidence.

“We were going to declare at lunch regardless of how well everyone had been batting and it was good that the innings finished positively.

“Andy Carter got an early wicket but we never really got any rhythm in the field with the rain stoppages, and also had Mark Footitt missing after a groin strain he suffered at the end of Oxford’s first innings.

“As a whole though the three days have been good for the batsmen and on a flat wicket, Carter and Paul Franks got plenty of overs in and bowled well.”