Cricket

County Championship: Hameed & Duckett lead Notts fightback against Bears

Hameed, who hit 14 fours in more than five hours at the crease, had earlier shared 118 for the first wicket with Ben Slater.

After turning the screw with three wickets in 10 balls at the end of Saturday’s play, Warwickshire needed 33 deliveries at the start of day three to prise out the two more wickets needed to end Nottinghamshire’s first innings.

Michael Booth removed Brett Hutton via first slip and would have added a five-for to his career-best with the bat had a leaping Alex Davies been able to take a chance offered by Lyndon James on 34. The wicketkeeper made immediate amends, though, as Josh Tongue succumbed to Chris Woakes’s first delivery with the second new ball.

With the best part of two days still to play, there was an argument for Warwickshire not enforcing the follow-on but skipper Ed Barnard rejected that notion and sent his bowlers out again.

Yet they had a long wait to see much success as Nottinghamshire met the challenge with renewed resolve after being clearly second best throughout the first half of the contest.

Openers Hameed and Slater came through 22 overs to lunch unscathed and a marathon middle session of 34 overs saw only Slater leave the stage, the left-hander cursing a rare lapse in concentration as he slapped Beau Webster straight to backward point.

Slater’s exit ushered in Duckett, eager to add to his first-innings 62 after a frustrating season’s debut against Glamorgan two weeks ago yielded scores of just 25 and one. He took up where he had left off, collecting seven boundaries in reaching 40 at tea.

By then, after two and a half days of sunshine on a pitch that has held few demons at any stage, Warwickshire’s bowlers were struggling to create chances. Jordan Thompson had been the one to command most respect, although moments of encouragement were rare.

Duckett passed fifty for the second time in the match with a crisp cut for four off Thompson and quickly lofted off-spinner Rob Yates over midwicket for his first six, before Hameed celebrated his first century of the season, having faced 215 balls and hit a dozen fours.

Dan Mousley’s off-spin replaced that of Yates, almost bringing a wicket when Hameed, on 105, survived a difficult chance to Chris Woakes at mid-off.

Yet Mousley turned out to be the partnership-breaker as Duckett, while again playing some high-class shots, disappointed himself, cutting the spinner straight to Barnard at backward point with a hundred seemingly in his grasp. His first innings had ended similarly, with a somewhat wasteful shot.

Warwickshire swiftly backed it up. Barnard bowled Hameed before Booth removed Jack Haynes for a duck. Had Kyle Verreynne been taken, rather than missed, at second slip with the new ball, the visitors would certainly have had their tails up.

Report by ECB Reporters’ Network, supported by Rothesay.

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