Nottinghamshire enjoyed a good workout on the opening day of their Trent Bridge friendly against Leicestershire as many of the senior bowlers impressed before Chris Read and Jake Libby batted fluently in the latter part of the day.
Harry Gurney, with two for 28, returned the pick of the bowling figures for the home side as they restricted their guests to 259 for five, with wickets for Luke Wood, Will Gidman and Samit Patel also.
Aadil Ali made an unbeaten 106 for Leicestershire, with good contributions also from Niall O’Brien (50) and Ben Raine (42 not out).
The last session of the day saw Notts take to the crease and Read and Libby caught the eye with a century opening stand. At stumps the pair had taken the score to 116 without loss, with Read on 69 not out and his younger partner unbeaten on 46.
At the start of the day Notts opened up their bowling effort with the two left-arm pace men, Wood and Gurney. Neither gave much away in a challenging passage of play for the Leicestershire top order pair, Paul Horton and Lewis Hill.
Horton (6) was first to succumb to the pressure, losing his off pole to a delivery from Wood that just shaped back in before flattening the stump.
Wicketkeeper Tom Moores was then cruelly debited with four byes when a Gurney delivery swung prodigiously down the leg side and away from him on its way to the fine leg fence.
A happier moment was just around the corner for Moores, though. Lewis Hill had taken 22 deliveries to get off the mark and had only reached five when he nicked Gurney behind.
Mark Pettini made a stylish 16 but fell in the 15th over to the first bowling change of the day. Will Gidman’s pre-season tour was disrupted by an ankle injury in Barbados but a clean bill of health produced a toe-crunching yorker to trap the former Essex captain lbw for 16.
O’Brien found some early success with a flurry of fours towards the short boundary in front of the Smith Cooper Stand but then pulled Brett Hutton to the longer side to bring up the 50 partnership and take the total beyond three figures.
Lunch was taken with Leicestershire on 101 for three, O’Brien on 40 not out and Ali on 27. Notts spurned a chance soon after the restart when Ali was put down in the slip cordon off Hutton.
The fourth-wicket pairing kept pace with each other and reached their half centuries from consecutive deliveries in a stand of 97. Ali got there from 94 balls, with 10 fours and O’Brien (50) followed immediately, from 53 deliveries, with nine fours but next ball he hit Gurney to Ben Kitt at cover.
Wayne White (13) chopped on to his own stumps off Samit Patel but Leicestershire’s total received a boost when Ben Raine replaced him in the middle. The left-hander took a liking to the short side and twice deposited Patel’s slow left arm spin over the ropes.
Ali, meanwhile, overcame a lengthy stay in the 80s to move to his hundred. He hit a six off Patel to move to 95 then in the 58th over, bowled by academy leg-spinner Connor Marshall, he pulled a boundary and steered a single to get to the landmark (152 balls 1x6 16x4).
Chris Read and Jake Libby had a fairly trouble-free passage in adding their first 50 inside only 12 overs. The Club Captain, in particular, timed the ball sweetly on both sides of the wicket as Raine and Charlie Shreck struggled to build any pressure.
A straight six off James Sykes took Read to a sparkling 50 (81 balls 1x6 8x4) in the 20th over and he repeated the treatment by hoisting the same bowler over deep midwicket.
Libby provided the perfect foil, content to rotate the strike or punish width and a sweet clip through the leg side brought up the century stand in the 24th over.
In bright sunlight an absorbing day of cricket concluded with the two batsmen remaining in full control before walking off together after a very impressive two-hour partnership.
The match continues on Friday 1 April 2016 (11am) when Nottinghamshire will bat for the first 60 overs of the day, before Leicestershire have 30 overs at the crease in the final session. Admission is free to all and refreshments will be available in the Members' Pavilion.
The 2015 season saw dramatic last-gasp four day victories, thrilling limited-overs contests and an historic Investec Ashes Test, all in the unique surroundings of Trent Bridge.
Next season, we’d wager, will be no less enthralling and frankly we’d hate for you to miss out.