Steven Mullaney’s two wickets and Ben Slater’s 41 were the standout performances for Nottinghamshire as they locked horns with Northamptonshire in a pre-season friendly at Trent Bridge.
The home side closed on 130-3 in reply to the visitors’ 198-4 declared during the 90 overs of play.
An uncontested toss saw Nottinghamshire begin the day in the field, and they soon picked up their first wicket as Luke Wood drew the edge of Richard Vasconcelos’ bat for 8.
But it then took until the last ball before lunch for the hosts to make another breakthrough – Steven Mullaney castling Ben Curran for 59.
Mullaney was immediately back in the wickets with the first ball after the restart, pinning Richard Levi for a first-ball duck.
A half-century from Luke Procter guided Northants to 198-4 at tea, when their declaration gave Notts 30 overs to chip away at the deficit.
Despite losing Ben Duckett for 13, enterprising boundary-hitting from Jake Libby and Ben Slater quickly brought up a 50 partnership before Slater was removed for 41.
Libby’s bright display continued in the company of Joe Clarke before the Cornishman was dismissed for 35.
Clarke and Mullaney saw out the final few overs to leave Notts just 68 behind Northants, despite being at the crease for half as many overs as their opponents.
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