Ben Slater credited his process for the half-century he made on day one of the LV=Insurance County Championship fixture against Durham 

Slater, who struck 48 of his 60 runs in boundaries, owing, in part, to a reduced boundary size, brought up his 600th red-ball run of the season during his stay at the crease. 

“The batters were certainly happy with the size of the boundary when they first saw it,” he said, “we knew we would get value for our shots and you saw that in the ratio of boundaries today.

“Overall, I was happy with how I played personally. I have felt good all year, and have had a couple of good nets after the white ball stint.

“When you are in a good place, you want to continue doing the things that have brought you that success, and that’s what I tried to do today.”

Having lost the toss, Nottinghamshire were inserted by the hosts, and the decision appeared vindicated in the 7th over when Slater lost his opening partner Haseeb Hameed. 

However, having negotiated the opening spell, the 29-year-old cashed in through what transpired to be kinder conditions than expected. 

“We would have chosen to bowl first, but the way the weather was we weren’t too disappointed when we lost the toss,” he admitted.

“It looked like there might be some rain, but it cleared and the sun was out for large parts of the morning session when batting can be tough, so that made it easier and, even though we lost wickets, we have ended up with a competitive total.

“There was certainly some variable bounce in the pitch and it felt a bit two paced, so I think we will enjoy bowling when our time comes tomorrow, particularly with the way our seamers have been going recently.”

Slater shared a 71-run partnership with Joe Clarke, who was returning from precautionary isolation, before the left-hander was dismissed. 

Later, despite a flurry of wickets, Steven Mullaney and Liam Patterson-White steadied the ship and countered in the evening session, much to the delight of the opener. 

“You wouldn’t have known Joe has spent the last 10 days in his flat with the way he played, he looked as classy as ever,” Slater said.

“He has an ability to put bowlers off their lengths by using the crease, and he is a great person to bat with.

“The way Liam played in the end got us up to a good total aswell, he played with real positivity and, with him still being there overnight, he can hopefully get a few more in the morning.”