Andy Pick praised the efforts of his bowlers on the third day of Nottinghamshire’s Specsavers County Championship match against Hampshire on the Isle of Wight.

“It’s been a long day for them,” said the Bowling Coach. “But they’ve put a good shift in over the course of this game and it’s nice to see them coming out of it with nobody carrying any injuries.

“They’ve given it what they can and now we’ve got a long day of batting tomorrow, hopefully.”

With the hosts using the heavy roller at the start of the day there wasn’t quite the same response for any of the bowling unit.

“We’ve noticed that in a couple of games, where it has had an effect and calmed things down a little bit.”

Nottinghamshire’s day began brightly, with Stuart Broad removing Oli Soames in just the second over.

“That was the thing this morning,” said Pick. “We wanted to try and get a good start and if we could pick up two or three in the first hour then we were hoping to be able to hold them, if not put a bit of pressure on them.

“We got a couple past the outside edge but it was nothing like the first day where there were 45 plays and misses. The pitch has changed.  It’s a bit slower and the heavy roller took effect and it was hard work.”

Hampshire’s success was built upon the third wicket stand of 257 between Ajinkya Rahane and Sam Northeast, who both scored hundreds.

“You have two guys who can both play,” reflected Pick. “Put them in good conditions and the outfield is a bit quicker and the pitch is a bit flatter and that’s where batters earn their corn. We knew it was going to be hard work and we stuck to the task but find ourselves behind the eight ball.”

Towards the end of a long day Notts sent out Matt Carter as nightwatchman, following on from his first innings marathon performance, where he batted for 105 minutes alongside Steven Mullaney.

“I think it can be a bit deceptive because Matt is better than a number 10 or 11, where he finds himself batting in our team.

“He’s brave and we saw that again tonight, where he’s been peppered but he can play. Sometimes when you are put at 10 you have to make sure you don’t bat like a 10.

“He can bat higher up the order than that, as he showed yesterday and again tonight.”

With a victory target of 439 ahead of them, Notts closed on 42 for two, meaning that the final day will be all about crease occupation.

“We’ve got to take a bit of heart from the way the pitch played today and get through a tricky half hour in the morning and see where we are,” admitted Pick.

“But the task is pretty clear – we’ve just got to bat all day.”

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