Jake Ball turned in another remarkable bowling performance as Nottinghamshire fought back strongly on the opening day of their Specsavers County Championship match against Somerset at Taunton.
The home side reached the close on 322 for nine but they collapsed dramatically after James Hildreth and Chris Rogers had put on 269 for the third wicket.
Hildreth, batting with a runner, made 135, whilst his captain left the field to a standing ovation having scored 132.
Ball dismissed Rogers, on his way to figures of six for 47 as Somerset lost their last five wickets without a run being added. The pace man couldn’t disguise his smile at the way the game had been transformed. “It was an interesting spell,” he said.
“After tea we sort of said, go out and see if we could nick a couple of wickets, then there was enough pace and carry in the wicket to nick a few more. We probably got a few more than we expected but that’s credit to everybody who has bowled and caught well today.”
The second new ball made the difference, with the 25-year old too hot for Somerset to handle.
“There was just that extra bit of nip off the wicket,” said Ball. “It’s quite abrasive out there and after 15-20 overs it gets quite soft and doesn’t tend to do as much so it’s important to get our work done with the new ball and I think we did it quite well today.”
There was concern on the field earlier, when Hildreth had been struck a painful blow on the ankle and Ball knew it was painful from the start.
“As soon as I hit him I knew it was all bone and it’s never nice to get one of them but he’s battled on and got his hundred, so all credit to him, he’s fully deserved it.”
The day saw Ball pass a number of milestones; most significantly he secured his 50thchampionship wicket of the season.”
“It’s obviously a great milestone and it’s something to work towards. It’s like 1,000 runs for the batsmen. It’s the first time I’ve done it and hopefully I can do a few more in the years to come.”
Notts included both Matt Carter and Billy Root in their starting eleven, with Brendan Taylor and Harry Gurney making way.
Jake Ball and Brett Hutton opened the bowling for the visitors but it took until the 11thover before the first breakthrough arrived.
Marcus Trescothick, who made 218 when the sides met in Nottingham earlier in the season, had compiled 25 in his usual emphatic manner but then nicked Ball behind to captain Chris Read.
In his next over Ball struck again as Tom Abell (8) clipped nonchalantly off his pads into the hands of Jake Libby at midwicket.
Although that was the last wicket of the morning session, things became a little worse for Somerset as James Hildreth suffered a painful injury. The batsman was hit full on the left boot by Ball and after treatment, had to use Abell as a runner.
Clearly in pain, with his movement severely restricted, he made it through the remainder of the session, passing the 50 partnership in the process.
Both undefeated batsmen, plus runner, returned after lunch and picked up the tempo from the start as Nottinghamshire’s bowlers failed to exert the tight control they would have been craving.
Rogers reached his 50 from 83 balls, with seven fours and quickly followed it up with a succession of boundaries to speed through the 60s and 70s.
Hildreth, visibly suffering, gave little away and kept the board moving, even though there were several times when he went hard at the bowling without any foot movement.
He limped his way to a 50 from 97 balls as the partnership sped past 150. Rogers ran into one or two anxious moments before reaching three figures.
On 86 he inside-edged a sharply-rising Hutton delivery past his leg stick and then mistimed against Samit Patel, only for the ball to lob gently into a space on the leg side.
His 75th career ton was reached with his 14th boundary and came from 152 deliveries. Hildreth was closing in on his partner and reached his 39th hundred from 199 deliveries, with 11 fours and a pulled six off Imran Tahir.
Their partnership had beaten the previous county third wicket stand (265) by 4 runs, for the county against Notts, when Ball struck with the second new ball.
Rogers edged to Steven Mullaney at second slip and began a journey back to the pavilion that was accompanied by rapturous applause from his supporters.
That wicket came at 302 for three, with Somerset having secured three batting bonus points and seemingly charging towards a full house. Notts had other ideas, as the game swung dramatically.
Hildreth followed in the next over, caught behind off Hutton. The old saying of “One wicket brings two” was inaccurate in this case as “One brought seven”.
Notts gave both Lewis Gregory and Peter Trego a life, as Ball and Hutton had further chances put down but neither spill was costly.
Gregory only made two before he was the latest to be bamboozled and bowled by Tahir. Ball ended Trego’s brief stay on nine with the only lbw of the day.
From then on, it was carnage as Roelef van der Merwe, Craig Overton and Ryan Davies perished without a run to their name. Tahir took the first and then Ball claimed his third wicket in 10 balls by snaffling the other two.
Somerset’s position of strength had disappeared in double-quick fashion and Ball will begin the second day by bowling at number eleven Jack Leach.