Paul Franks admitted the opening day of Nottinghamshire’s Specsavers County Championship match against Essex at Chelmsford hadn’t gone as well as they’d hoped.

“It’s been a really, really tough day on a pitch which we read as being pretty good for batting,” said the assistant Head Coach.

“Obviously we wanted a toss and to bat but we’ve seen the ball do quite a lot today.

“They’ve bowled very well on it and put us under some pressure and we didn’t handle that pressure well at certain times.

“And we played some shots that the lads would want back. We also lost wickets in clusters, which isn’t a good habit to have.”

Franks said his side have to dominate the second day in order to stay in the match now.

“It has been a day that we’ve lost all three sessions and to come back from that we are going to have to find a day to match it, in our favour.”

Notts were bowled out for only 187 in 73.2 overs, with Ben Slater and Joe Clarke sharing a third-wicket stand of 80.

“There was a lot of loose stuff,” said Franks. “And a lot of stuff that comes off the back of a one-day competition where, without making excuses for the lads, they’ve been throwing themselves into that whole-heartedly for the last three and a half weeks.

“We’ve had 24 hours to turn ourselves around and come down here.

"And on what we thought would be a good pitch for batting we wanted to take the opportunity to put a score on the board and we haven’t been able to do that.

“So, the lads are very frustrated by today’s work.

"The only way to put it right is to come back tomorrow and have a go and we will try and do that. There’s a long way to go in the game yet and there’s work to be done."

Franks said he was encouraged by what he saw from Zak Chappell, making his county first-class debut, late in the day. The former Leicestershire bowler sent down five testing overs.

“We know what he’s got. He’s got the raw materials to be a very good quick bowler in the coming years.

“He’s an aspiring one now. He’s got excellent attributes and the reason we signed him is because he can make a difference. He’s one that Nottinghamshire supporters will really look forward to watching in the coming years.”

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