On an enthralling final day of the 2021 County Championship regular season, Nottinghamshire beat Yorkshire at Trent Bridge but missed out on a place in the Bob Willis Trophy Final at Lords next week after Warwickshire beat Somerset to pip Lancashire for the Division One title into second and Notts into third meaning the Red Roses will take on the West Midlanders in the closing game of the campaign for more silverware in red balls latest domestic format.
Notts went into their final game at home against the White Rose County knowing they had a slim chance of making the Bob Willis Trophy showpiece and finished day one a handful short of 300 ending up on Wednesday am all out for 296 with Ben Slater’s 109 the pick of the scores.
In response, Notts were dominant with the ball thanks largely to the continued brilliant form of the countries leading wicket taker Luke Fletcher, Hill & Kohler-Cadmore early doors left the visitors two down for just five runs.
Lyth was next as Brett Hutton got in on the act and when Fletcher took Fraine, Yorkshire were 21/4 and up against it with a mountain to climb.
Enter Joey Evison who made a healthy 58 in the first innings for Notts, he then ripped through the middle order with 4 for 13 and after Dane Paterson knocked through the remaining two tail enders, Yorkshire were all out for 73.
Following on, Adam Lyth found himself in stunning form, hitting 153 as Yorkshire resurged to 396 all out, too little too late? It left Notts with 173 to chase down and in the end the side did it with ease.
Ben Slater not out for 79 as Notts slightly stumbled for the loss of five wickets, but with five still in hand and half the days play to go, it was in the end a comprehensive win that gave them slim chance of reaching that Lords final, finishing 0.5 points below Lancashire and waiting for a favour off Somerset who needed to avoid being bowled out.
That didn’t in the end happen at Edgbaston despite Somerset’s resilience, Warwickshire taking the title knocking Notts back down to third, thus missing out on a Bob Willis Trophy final, but a season of seven red ball wins is at least progress, for a side that prior to the campaign, had gone three years without victory.
Special mention for the LV= County Championship Player of the Year Luke Fletcher on a terrific personal campaign, his 66 season wickets (at an ave of 14.90) the best in the competition by some way, Dane Paterson taking 54 at 17.98, a healthy back up and the fifth best in the country this year. Ben Slater just outside the nation’s top ten in the batting stakes, scoring 837 with an average of 39.85 the top scoring Notts player ahead of Joe Clarke (760 runs at an ave of 36.19) who was also superb with the bat this summer.
*Main image @TrentBridge Ben Duckett in action verses Yorkshire.
