Sammy King and Sam Seecharan’s sizeable opening partnership saw Nottinghamshire 2nd XI to a comeback seven-wicket win over Warwickshire and all-but-secured their spot in the Second XI Championship final.

The format of the Second XI Championship is such that, of the three six-team groups, the two best-ranked group winners progress to the four-day final in Loughborough next week.

Facing a target of 266 after the Bears’ second innings was curtailed for just 135 thanks to Brett Hutton’s piercing 4/16, King and Seecharan put on the bulk of those runs in just 38 overs.

Together, they added 177, with King making 93 and Seecharan hitting 89, before Dane Schadendorf’s swift unbeaten 49 from 25 balls took the Green and Golds across the line.

It fell to Farhan Ahmed, who also finished unbeaten - on 11 from seven balls - to strike the winning runs and leave the Bears ruing an inability to capitalise on a first-innings lead of 130.

View the full scorecard here.

Nottinghamshire have topped Group Three with 85 points, putting them, for now, 16 clear of the third-best group leader, Surrey - who have yet to finish their game against Hampshire.

Even in the event that the Brown Caps take more than 16 points from that encounter to usurp Notts as the best group winner, the focus would then shift to Gloucestershire.

The West Country outfit would require a minimum of 13 points from their game against Lancashire in Blackpool - but as of the start of Day Three there, they are 104-9, 224 behind, in their first innings.

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