Ricardo Vasconcelos and Saif Zaib shared a 50 partnership as Northamptonshire recovered from losing their first two wickets before rain interrupted the opening day of their County Championship Division One game against Nottinghamshire .
Vasconcelos – having been dropped twice as he progressed to 37 not knocked out – struck throughout the morning session at Wantage Road to add exactly 50 for the third wicket with Zaib, who posted an unbeaten 22.
That position saw Northamptonshire reach lunchtime at 86-2, with Luke Fletcher and Dane Paterson taking a wicket apiece, but further progress proved impossible after a heavy downpour during the interval left the playing surface saturated.
Referees Neil Pratt and Richard Illingworth gave up play for the day shortly after 3:00 p.m. BST.
Despite the absence of England duo Stuart Broad and Olly Stone from their bowling attack, Nottinghamshire skipper Steven Mullaney opted to insert the home side after winning the draw.
Emilio Gay, back at the top of the order after a knee injury ruled him out of Northamptonshire’s first four games this season, showed no signs of rust as he sent Fletcher to the fence at three occasions.
However, Fletcher probed to get his man back, pulling one away to find the edge in Joe Clarke’s gloves and that dismissal, along with a consistent first-change spell from Paterson, snuffed out the scoring rate.
Paterson reclaimed the visitors’ second wicket with a fine delivery that went a long way to crash into Sam Whiteman’s stump – and they should have had a third after wasting two chances to clear Vasconcelos.
Brett Hutton reversed a routine sliding catch after the southpaw floated outside the stump at Lyndon James and he got a second life when Clarke failed to hold back a leg look at Paterson.
It took 89 balls for Vasconcelos to register his first boundary, belting a rare stray delivery from Paterson through the covers, but second and third quickly followed in Fletcher’s follow-up as he and Zaib built a solid partnership.
There was another scare for Vasconcelos just before lunch, having doubts over a quick single as he stumbled halfway to the wicket, but he regained his footing to safety on the non-attacking side while that Matthew Montgomery’s throw flew.
Report provided by the ECB Reporters Network.
