Ben Slater hundred lays platform for Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire 275 for five (Slater 100, Moores 72*) vs Kent
Nottinghamshire opener Ben Slater accomplished his first LV= Insurance County Championship hundred since April final yr to put the inspiration for a strong opening day in opposition to Kent at Trent Bridge.
The left-hander, who has had a lean yr by the requirements he has set in current seasons, made precisely 100, with wicketkeeper Tom Moores ending unbeaten on 72 as Nottinghamshire closed on 275 for five.
Kent’s bowling lacked consistency. Matt Quinn and Arshdeep Singh saved to slightly over two runs an over however Jas Singh’s two wickets got here at a price of 11 fours and a six in 12 overs.
Beset by accidents and different non-availabilities, Kent have been pressured to signal two on-loan batters forward of this fixture however might need anticipated extra from their seam assault on a pitch that seemed inexperienced sufficient to have tempted Nottinghamshire to bowl first had they received the toss.
Under an overcast morning sky, batting seemed hazardous when the stumps have been beneath risk however Kent’s bowlers have been too usually large of that mark within the opening session, conceding boundaries in 12 consecutive overs throughout one expansive passage of play.
Joey Evison, a gifted allrounder who left Trent Bridge final yr via lack of alternatives, inflicted the one wound to the Nottinghamshire prime order when Haseeb Hameed, who was starting to seek out his timing after a sluggish begin, performed all spherical one which hit the knee roll of his entrance pad.
The exception among the many Kent seamers was Arshdeep Singh, the Indian white-ball worldwide left-armer who’s taking part in within the final of his 5 first-class matches in England this summer season. Unlucky at instances from the pavilion finish as Nottinghamshire reached 116 for 1 at lunch, he was rewarded for switching ends shortly afterwards because the New Zealander Will Young, one other on the finish of a short-term contract, pushed ahead to a ball that discovered the sting.
Nonetheless, the day was nonetheless unfolding properly for Nottinghamshire till simply over an hour into the afternoon session, after they misplaced Joe Clarke after which Slater inside 4 overs. Clarke, who had steered his first ball for 4 to the brief boundary on the Bridgford Road facet, seemed in ominously good contact as he drove and pulled two extra boundaries after which hoisted Singh over the longer boundary for six.
Yet he was stopped in his tracks on 22 when pinned in entrance by a swinging supply from Quinn. Minutes later, after working three from a straight drive to finish his hundred from 150 balls, Slater was squared up a contact by a ball from Singh that discovered the thinnest of edges, a second catch for Harry Finch, who continued as stand-in wicketkeeper with Jordan Cox injured and Sam Billings taking time away from the sport.
It left Steven Mullaney and Moores with a rebuilding job at 169 for 4, not helped by a stoppage of 108 minutes after a burst of heavy rain adopted by a prolonged mopping-up operation.
The delay value 15 overs and, seemingly, Kent’s hopes of constructing any momentum on the again of these two necessary wickets because the fifth-wicket companions added 83 earlier than there was one other breakthrough, Mullaney falling leg earlier than as Singh hurried one via.
Kent had missed two possibilities alongside the way in which, with Mullaney dropped inexplicably by Ben Compton at first slip on 16 off Arshdeep, and Moores given a life moments after his eighth 4 had taken him to a 77-ball half-century as Singh shelled a tough caught-and-bowled.