Alex Hales continued his love affair with Edgbaston by scoring his third century on the ground during the first day of Nottinghamshire’s LV= County Championship match against Warwickshire.
Hales scored 183 as Notts closed on 397 for seven, after being put in. Batting at 3 in the order, the 25-year old was at the crease for 321 minutes, faced 224 balls and hit 25 fours and a six. He eventually fell to Boyd Rankin, who finished with three for 40.
“I’ve been very lucky in that the wickets we’ve played on here have always been absolute belters." Alex Hales
His innings was bolstered by two other half centuries. Phil Jaques, playing the 200th first class match of his career, scored 77 during the morning session and Riki Wessels added 53 during a stand of 119 with Hales, who admitted he was aware of how close he was to a career best score.
“Yes, it was on my mind whilst I was out there but fair play to Boyd Rankin, it was a good ball that got me and I’m glad I didn’t get one like that earlier," he said.
He felt there was one obvious reason why three of his eight hundreds have come in Birmingham.
“I’ve been very lucky in that the wickets we’ve played on here have always been absolute belters. You get good value for your shots here and I always seem to have found good form here. I feel in pretty good nick at the moment and you’ve always got to try and cash in when you’re having a good spell.”
As with his 184 against Somerset three years ago, Hales made his runs coming in at first drop. “In 2011 it was the plan for me to bat regularly at three but we struggled a bit so Mick (Newell) asked me to go back up and open. When Jaquesy goes and Lumby’s fit again I guess I’ll be back up the top of the order.”
Notts included Luke Fletcher in place of Ajmal Shahzad, in the only change to the team that defeated Somerset in the previous LV= County Championship game.
Put in, under cloudy skies, both openers began circumspectly before opening their accounts with boundaries. Jaques ran Keith Barker to third man and Steven Mullaney caressed Chris Woakes through the covers.
The pair brought the 50 stand up inside 12 overs but then lost Mullaney (21), with the score on 55.
He pulled a short ball from Rikki Clarke straight into the waiting hands of Woakes on the leg side fence, for what was, a pretty tame dismissal.
Hales, with a first class average of 117.75 from his previous visits to Edgbaston, punched Clarke away for a couple of exquisite boundaries to ease into his day’s work and found Jaques at his attacking best at the other end.
The team’s 100 came up in 21 overs and then Hales hit Barker for three consecutive fours to bring up the 50 stand.
Jaques’ half century (62 balls 10x4) was almost taken as read, so fluently was he timing the ball, but Warwickshire missed one opportunity to remove the left-hander when a shy from Sam Hain narrowly missed the stumps after a hastily scampered single.
The home side’s spirits were lifted, however, with the wicket of Jaques (77), just before lunch.
After a stand of 91 with Hales, the left-handed opener nibbled at a ball from Jonathan Trott, in the final over before the interval and fell to a sprawling catch by wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose.
James Taylor quickly made himself at home as Warwickshire gave him a few early leg side deliveries to hit. The right-hander, man of the match in the T20 Blast win 24 hours earlier, picked up the pace immediately and helped Hales apply pressure to the beleaguered home attack.
Hales’ first run after the break had been his 4,000th in first class cricket and he soon had a 50 (53 balls 9x4) to his name to celebrate.
A Taylor boundary, aided by a misfield from Rankin, brought up the 200 and the resultant first batting point – taking Notts to the top of the table for the time being.
The third consecutive fifty-plus stand ended on 71 with Rankin fresh into the attack. The big fast bowler had Taylor (36) caught by a fine deflection through to Ambrose and then followed up by getting Samit Patel (1), caught behind down the leg side.
Patel’s single took him to 900 Championship runs this season and to 992 in all first class cricket in 2014.
Wessels got away with a streaky four through the slip cordon, just out of reach of the diving Clarke, and then didn’t score from the next 32 deliveries – and ten overs.
With Hales nearing his hundred – and wanting to make sure he got there – the most sedate passage of the day was played out.
On 92 Jeetan Patel let out a throaty roar for lbw against Hales but didn’t get the verdict. Perhaps stung into a response the batsman then used his feet to hit both of the next two down the ground for one-bounce fours to bring up his second century of the summer (134 balls 15x4).
Wessels (20) and Hales (9), had scored more maximums in the Championships than any other player this season, yet neither had looked to lift the ball at all, up to that point and reached tea having added 42 together.
Both men carried on in the same vain during the early part of the third session. The merest glimmer of an opportunity for the Bears came when Hales was on 124 – he punched the ball out onto the leg side and was ambling through for a single when the throw from Jeetan Patel took him by surprise and only narrowly missed the stumps.
The century stand arrived just before the taking of the second new ball, with Hales scoring 54 of the runs and Wessels’ 43.
Wessels (53) reached a well-deserved 50 (114 balls 6x4 1x6) by pulling Barker for 6 but the ball sailed out of the ground, lost forever.
It’s replacement brought instant dividends as the batsman punched straight into the hands of William Porterfield at backward point.
Hales reached his 150 (198 balls 22x4) and then celebrated by pulling Woakes for a handsome 6.
He advanced beyond his 167 made against Sussex this season and then got within one of his previous best when he was adjudged lbw to Rankin.
Worse was to follow, as Peter Siddle (1) nicked Wright to Chopra at slip, so Notts trooped off still three short of maximum batting points and with Chris Read unbeaten on 15.