Latest Match Report – Warwickshire vs Notts 2023

Nottinghamshire 155 (Hasan 3-30) and 267 for 4 (Clarke 119*) Warwickshire 571 from 9 Dec 149 runs

Nottinghamshire resumed after bowling out just 155 in reply to Warwickshire’s 571 for 9, but despite Clarke’s impressive performance they were 149 runs behind at the end of the third day on 267 for 4 with another new ball at the disposal of the visiting bowlers. after two more rounds.

Clarke was unbeaten on 119 off 178 balls. He has batted for almost four hours and didn’t give a chance and got 22 boundaries. Skipper Steven Mullaney was not out for 37 in an inexhaustible fifth-wicket stand of 81, but even if the field evens out, Warwickshire will be disappointed not to turn their dominance over the first three days into a win.

Having left the field due to thunder and lightning on Monday night, Nottinghamshire emerged in glorious sunshine on day three as they were urged to fight for their survival despite being five off 82, still 489 runs behind. Yet 24 overs and two balls later, they were asked to follow.

Mullaney, who was not out with Tom Moores overnight, was caught well at short midwicket in the fifth over of the day, Hasan’s third victim. Moores and Calvin Harrison charged defiantly before leaving in back-to-back rounds. Moores was driven loose – skipper Rhodes’ first wicket of the season – and Harrison, somewhat inevitably after being tempted by several short deliveries on the leg side, missed one to long on.

Rhodes picked up his second when Jake Ball fended off a short ball to get to first slip, and one over from Danny Briggs was enough to tempt last man Dane Paterson to throat the ball to long-on.

There was an argument for Rhodes not forcing follow-on, given the rising heat and the efforts of his bowlers to fend off any threat of Nottinghamshire’s recovery. If it was discussed, it was dropped, though he might have reconsidered when openers Ben Slater and Haseeb Hameed put on 61 without too much alarm.

But like in the first innings, Hasan’s introduction changed the picture. Hameed, who misread a Pakistani quick corner, lost his stumps without offering a shot. Two balls later new man Matt Montgomery struck in front, beaten to pace.

Clarke, patient at first, hit three lovely straight drives to the Rhodes boundary, but just as it looked like he and Slater might defend and get the innings back on an even keel, the captain brought Briggs to Hasan at the pavilion end and Slater. , perhaps misjudging the bounce, tamely spooned the ball to short arm.

The onus now fell heavily on Clarke, who passed his first Test alongside Lyndon James by ensuring Nottinghamshire reached tea without casualties. By then he was 53 and although 40 of them had come within range, he had taken them without unnecessary risk.

James, by contrast, was content to simply block and the combination worked well as Clarke – aided by four boundaries in one over Rhodes’ medium pace – moved into the 80s for the first time this season until James edged one. nicely through midwicket for just his third boundary in an hour and three-quarters from the crease, drew him to play a ball off Rushworth, who took an edge and had him caught at first slip. A fourth-wicket partnership had added up to a tie of 100, easily Nottinghamshire’s highest of the match, although the deficit was still a daunting 230 runs.

Clarke, who had crossed fifty-eight times in the final match of the 2021 season after a 109 against Yorkshire without being able to convert, picked up a few more boundaries off Oliver Hannon-Dalby to move into the 90s but looked nervous. closer to three figures and when he drove Hasan through extra cover to reach the milestone in his 19th boundary, it prompted only subdued celebrations, perhaps acknowledging that his side still had a long way to go to save the game.