Nottinghamshire chose to start their second game on the same pitch as their opening match at Trent Bridge last week. They included two spinners in their line-up and unsurprisingly batted after winning the toss on the first day of their Vitality County Championship meeting with Worcestershire.
With Joe Clarke approaching his second hundred in three innings, a dominant third-wicket partnership of 133 runs saw an onslaught of 41 runs in the first six overs after lunch, giving them the initiative in the afternoon.
Ben Slater fell for 70, but Clarke, one of three home players facing his old club, continued to 105 before being caught behind 25 minutes after tea. However, Worcestershire was unable to regain balance and closed with Nottinghamshire at 305 for six.
New Zealander Nathan Smith took three wickets for 62 runs, while fellow overseas signing Barbadian Jason Holder bowled tightly but remained wicketless. 20-year-old Josh Baker's left-arm spin finally removed Clarke, who had previously dominated him.
The home side had an anxious start on the same surface where they were bowled out for 80 and lost to Essex just four days earlier. Nathan Smith, Worcestershire's new import this year, took two wickets in his first 19 balls, dismissing both openers by the eighth over.
Haseeb Hameed lost his wicket for eleven runs when the Kiwi bowler hit his middle and leg stumps with a full delivery. Similarly, Ben Duckett was dismissed for nine runs after touching a defensive edge to the wicket keeper. During the pre-lunch session, Slater survived a sharp low chance to short leg off Baker when he was on 40.
During the resumption, Slater edged a drive at the same bowler on 53 that flashed between the keeper and slip, neither of whom moved. Four men were later placed on the boundary for Clarke, who accelerated from 16 to 68 in just 48 balls before slowing down.
Slater was caught behind while flicking at a ball down the legside from Adam Finch. Smith returned for a second spell during which Matt Montgomery was taken at first slip for eleven while driving. At tea, Nottinghamshire was at 223 for four with Clarke tantalisingly close to his century.
His century, with three sixes, came up from the second delivery of the evening off 168 balls. However, first Jack Haynes, another former Worcester man, fell for 15. Then Clarke himself top-edged his cut behind for 105 and fell in four overs. The new ball was taken as soon as it became available, 35 minutes later, but the seventh-wicket partnership reached an unbroken 67.
At the close, Lyndon James was 39, while Calvin Harrison, who was born in South Africa but raised in New Zealand, remained resolute on 25 from 82 balls. James' leg spin gained an appreciable turn in the previous game against Essex and, on the six-day-old pitch on Saturday, could prove influential alongside Liam Patterson-White's left-arm spin. Patterson-White has been selected for the first time since last May.