Jennings and Bruce hit fifties on Day One at Trent Bridge
Skipper Keaton Jennings and Tom Bruce hit fifties for Lancashire but Dillon Pennington was Nottinghamshire’s outstanding performer as Lancashire were denied the prosperity they had been hoping for when they opted to bat on day one of their Vitality County Championship match at Trent Bridge.
Jennings made 91 and overseas batter Bruce 73 but Lancashire closed on 306 for eight, after being 190 for two earlier in the day.
Pennington (three for 46) inflicted damage by taking three for 15 in an excellent five-over spell with the second new ball before seamer Dane Paterson (two for 64) dealt Lancashire a further blow by removing Bruce in the day’s penultimate over.
With Australian spinner Nathan Lyon rested for this round, Lancashire have named England pace bowler Saqib Mahmood in their line-up for the first time in 12 months following a stress fracture.
It had looked like evolving as Lancashire’s day until the last half-hour of the middle session, when Jennings and George Balderson (38), who had shared a third-wicket stand worth 107, were both out in quick succession.
The morning session had been theirs until Josh Bohannon’s dismissal by Lyndon James from what would have been the penultimate ball before lunch. Bohannon had picked up four boundaries against the Nottinghamshire all-rounder, albeit one off an edge, but was struck on the front pad as he looked for a fifth through the on-side and was clearly out.
Despite pace bowlers Pennington and the fit-again Olly Stone subjecting Lancashire’s openers to a testing opening passage on a used pitch with a decent covering of grass, Nottinghamshire’s only breakthrough prior to that had come in the 10th over, when Paterson found the edge to have Luke Wells caught at second slip.
Encouraged by James’s breakthrough, which had ended what had been a threatening partnership between the aggressive Bohannon and a more measured Jennings, Nottinghamshire emerged from lunch with renewed energy. Yet it was Lancashire’s third-wicket pair who dominated for the next couple of hours.
Jennings, having built a painstaking 128-ball half-century, which he completed with his 10th boundary, upped the tempo. A paddle sweep for four and a nicely driven straight six off Calvin Harrison’s leg spin signalled growing assuredness and he looked well set for a second hundred of the season.
But Nottinghamshire’s bowlers never let their effort levels dip and fought back in the half-hour before tea.
Jennings departed going for a reverse sweep against Harrison but able only to top-edge it to slip where Tom Moores - back in the Nottinghamshire side for the first time this season but unable to prise the wicketkeeper’s gloves from Joe Clarke - took an easy catch.
But the departure of Balderson was purely down to the skill of the bowler, Stone’s impressive contribution deservedly rewarded when the batter was beaten for pace as he tried to flick across the line, squarely in front as the ball collided with the front pad. The two wickets transformed 190 for two into 196 for four.
Lancashire’s double setback meant two new batters at the crease, but with Bruce taking the lead, reaching a half-century off 69 balls, it took the second new ball for Nottinghamshire to restore a measure of parity on the day, Pennington striking twice in the space of nine deliveries as George Bell edged to first slip and Matthew Hurst to third.
The ex-Worcestershire quick picked up his third scalp when England spinner Tom Hartley found the safe hands of Harrison at second slip, after which Bruce reined himself in noticeably. Lancashire picked up a second batting point but the loss of Bruce, leg before to Paterson, was another big blow.
Before play began, players and spectators observed a minute’s silence in respect for Josh Baker, the Worcestershire spin bowler who died last week at the age of just 20. Baker represented his county against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge only last month.
It was a particularly poignant moment for Pennington and Jack Haynes, who now wear Nottinghamshire colours but shared the New Road dressing room with Baker before switching counties at the end of last season.
Photos: Luke Adams and Daniel Adams
