Lyndon James and Calvin Harrison were the standout performers as Nottinghamshire had a successful second day against Worcestershire at Trent Bridge.
James fell just short of a century, scoring an impressive 96 runs, while Harrison achieved his best First Class score of 52 runs before taking three wickets to pressure the opposition.
Luke Fletcher and Dillon Pennington took wickets in the first two overs, giving the hosts the start they wanted in the field. Worcestershire responded to Lancashire's score of 220/6 at stumps with an entertaining second-day battle, highlighted by Rob Jones' splendid knock of 90 runs.
In the morning session, Harrison and James aimed to build on the first innings score of 305/6, which was mainly achieved by Joe Clarke's 105 and Ben Slater's 70 on day one. The pair strategically chose their battles and both achieved their first batting milestones of the season.
Together, they scored 146 runs from 292 deliveries, which was the largest partnership of the innings. This helped to recover from the first-day losses of Clarke and Slater and provided fierce resistance to an attack comprising of Adam Finch, Josh Baker and Brett D’Oliveira.
Harrison reached a First Class best of 52 before being caught deep in the field by Jake Libby. Liam Patterson-White was dismissed eight balls later by D’Oliveira via his leg pad.
Luke Fletcher came in and scored a maximum in his first appearance of the season before being run out by D’Oliveira. Dillon Pennington then entered for the final stand of the innings.
James was just four runs short of his fourth First Class hundred, but unfortunately, he latched onto Finch’s full toss delivery and was caught at mid-wicket by Baker, ending Nottinghamshire’s first innings on 399.
The hosts then had their turn to use the ball. On only the third delivery of the innings, Luke Fletcher struck Gareth Roderick's pad, causing ecstatic cheers. This marked his return to red-ball cricket with great success.
Dillon Pennington joined in the following over. Calvin Harrison stole the limelight with a lightning-quick reaction to complete a sensational low diving catch at third slip, dismissing Jake Libby for 2.
Rob Jones steadied the ship for Worcestershire alongside Kashif Ali, weathering the early storm with a 78-run partnership. The visitors battled back in a similar style to Notts’ first innings.
Despite a promising start at the crease, Ali made an erroneous swipe at Pennington's bouncing delivery, resulting in the third wicket falling. Jack Haynes made a smart low catch as Ali fell ten runs short of a half-century at 82/3.
After tea, Rob Jones and Adam Hose resumed play for the Pears, with Calvin Harrison and Luke Fletcher occupying each end in an attempt to take more wickets before the close of play.
Despite his lack of fortune in the previous session, Harrison persisted and was rewarded when he took a catch off Adam Hose's sliced delivery, getting off the mark with the ball.
Jones continued to score important runs for the visitors and was on track to achieve a century.
In the 54th over of the innings, Harrison caught Jones, who was on 90, with a tempting delivery. Harrison took the catch swiftly for another caught-and-bowled. Harrison had different plans.
The 25-year-old wasted no time in adding another wicket to his tally. He dismissed Jason Holder, the West Indies international, with a mistimed push that was easily caught by Ben Duckett at first slip. This left Worcestershire at 186/6.
Nathan Smith then partnered with D’Oliveira to add another 34 runs before stumps were eventually called. The visitors are trailing by 179 runs ahead of the third day of what, so far, has been a highly competitive contest in West Bridgford.