Play finally got under way on the second day of Nottinghamshire’s LV= County Championship match against Northamptonshire at Trent Bridge.

After the wash-out on the opening day it was with some relief that play began at 1.45pm with Northants batting after being put in. Led by skipper Stephen Peters, who made 88 , the visitors raced to 107-0 before closing on 241-8 with Peter Siddle taking 4-75.

The Australian, claiming his best figures for Notts so far, admitted that his side hadn’t been at their best with the ball, particularly early on.

“It wasn’t a great start for us,” he said. “We knew if we won the toss we’d go out there and have a bowl but it was disappointing the way we started. We wanted to try and get a couple of early wickets to put them on the back foot but obviously they had the upper hand at the start.

“It was nice to peg them back later in the day. It would have been nice to finish them off this evening but hopefully we can get that done first thing in the morning.”

The Notts side showed two changes from that which played against Somerset last week with Andre Adams replacing the injured Jake Ball and Alex Hales recalled from his loan spell at Worcestershire to deputise for Steven Mullaney who had picked up an elbow knock in training.

With plenty of overhead cloud around, the decision to insert Northants seemed perfectly reasonable when Chris Read won the toss but his bowlers were unable to exert any early pressure as the openers got off to a flying start.

Stephen Peters, the Northants skipper, and James Middlebrook brought up their 50 stand in just 83 deliveries and continued to the century partnership from just 151 .

All four seamers were rotated without success until Siddle’s second spell, from the Radcliffe Road End, created the opening breakthrough. Middlebrook (47) had played faultlessly until nibbling at a delivery he was drawn into and edged into Read’s gloves.

Two overs later Siddle struck again. David Sales (10) had punched a couple of exquisite boundaries but then paid the price for an error of misjudgement, shouldering arms and losing his off peg.

Peters had passed his fifty (67 balls 6x4) but lost his latest partner soon after tea as Adams brought one back to flatten Matt Spriegel’s (6) middle stump.

Adams, playing his first match of the summer, visibly grew in confidence as the day wore on. He nearly had Spriegel just before the wicket and then sent down two testing overs to unsettle Peters and new batsman Rob Newton.

It was Adams the fielder, rather than the bowler, who executed the next dismissal. Peters (88) clipped Siddle firmly to midwicket, where the Kiwi took a sharp catch, sliding on his knees to make up the ground.

A loose shot from Andrew Hall (5) gave Ajmal Shahzad the first of his three wickets, with Chris Read holding a regulation nick. Newton (37) was given out lbw, trying to whip a straight ball to leg and Steven Crook (8) found the safe hands of Siddle at point.

Meanwhile, Siddle had taken the other wicket to fall, with Ben Duckett (8) presenting Read with his third catch of the day.