Nottinghamshire dressmaker Brett Hutton won his third five-wicket shot of the season to compound the former Northamptonshire county’s continued batting problems on day two of their County Championship game at Wantage Road.
Hutton found plenty of movement in the floodlights, cloudy skies and light rain to entice batters to play balls outside the stump and precipitate a Northamptonshire slump 113-2 to 158.
The Steelbacks lost seven wickets for 17 runs inside 12 overs before lunch, four batters going down without scoring, as Hutton finished with numbers 5-37.
When Nottinghamshire struck, a typically aggressive Ben Duckett (39) looked in a different class despite favorable conditions for bowlers, clearing seven borders from his former county to help his current employers reach 50 from nine overs.
The introduction of Tom Taylor into the attack threatened to cause an upset when the all-rounder knocked out Duckett and Haseeb Hameed in his opening run.
However, any hopes of making short work of the visitors were dashed thanks to a smooth fourth wicket of 68 between Joe Clarke (41 not out) and Matthew Montgomery (34) as Nottinghamshire closed out 157-4.
Earlier, Northamptonshire fly-half Ricardo Vasconcelos impressed again with 62, recording his second consecutive half-century of the season and sharing a third wicket partnership worth 77 with Saif Zaib (35).
After the wickets rattled, a spirited partnership of a final 28 wickets – the second-highest in innings – between Gareth Berg (23) and Jack White took the hosts past 150.
Northamptonshire had rallied 86-2 after heavy rain limited opening day play to just one session.
Although Vasconcelos survived two lost catches on day one, he and Zaib looked solid early on.
Vasconcelos reached his half-century with a clip of his legs that hit the limit thanks to a missed field from deep and survived another lost hold when he was taken for cover on the 57.
But as Vansconcelos took advantage of his chance, there was a procession of wickets at the other end against a disciplined seam attack from Nottinghamshire.
Zaib was the first to go, clipping Lyndon James to Duckett, the first of three catches for England’s opener.
Four balls later, Hutton earned his first scalp when he caught Rob Keogh behind the outside edge for a duck.
Steven Mullaney then got in on the action, finding late form to trap James Sales lbw.
Hutton found another move on the outside to prompt Harry Gouldstone to push an outside stump, then saw Taylor, also without scoring.
Vasconcelos’ nearly four-hour vigil finally came to an end after 179 balls when he also headed Hutton down the slides.
Then, just before the rain forced an early lunch, Jordan Buckingham was trapped by Dane Paterson without scoring.
Berg and White played positively after a time-extended lunch interval before Berg was played to give Hutton his fifth wicket.
When Nottinghamshire knocked Duckett was harsh on anything loose and he and Hameed went 58 for the first wicket.
Duckett had a release on the 27th when he slashed Jack White at catchable height between keeper and first slip, but was trapped by Taylor overcharging Northamptonshire.
Hameed’s downfall came four balls later when Vasconcelos took a good low hold to give Taylor two wickets in his opener.
Jordan Buckingham fired Ben Slater cheaply, but Montgomery (34) and Clarke rallied as Nottinghamshire closed a single run with six wickets still in hand.
Report provided by the ECB Reporters Network.
