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Migael gives Somerset first innings lead before Notts fight back
South African all-rounder Migael Pretorius added an unbeaten 95 to his four first-innings wickets to help Somerset carve out a 110-run first innings lead on day three of this Vitality County Championship First Division match at Trent Bridge.
Pretorius hammered six sixes and eight fours in a 71-ball assault to ensure that the efforts of Tom Abell and Tom Lammonby on day two were not wasted.
Somerset had suffered a mid-innings stumble from 315 for four to 356 for eight and were still in arrears until Pretorius and Jack Leach (37) put on 79 in rapid time, the 29-year-old Pretorius missing out on a second career hundred only because he ran out of partners.
Nottinghamshire fast bowler Dillon Pennington took five for 96 whilst leg spinner Calvin Harrison’s reward for bowling 39 overs in the heat was figures of three for 173.
Yet the wicket of Haseeb Hameed, bowled by Craig Overton for 91, was Somerset’s only second innings success so far from 58 overs of toil after the Nottinghamshire skipper had shared a 172-run opening partnership with Ben Slater, who finished on 70 not out in the company of Olly Stone.
Earlier in the day, Abell could add only six to his unbeaten 105 on Monday before he was trapped leg before. His dismissal sparked a flurry of wickets. New batter Kasey Aldridge lasted only seven deliveries before being caught at second slip by Harrison off Pennington, who found some extra bounce in his next over to frustrate James Rew, caught behind for 49.
At 325 for seven in the 99th over, the sides were level on points, yet the next 11 overs saw Somerset surge ahead thanks largely to Pretorious, whose aggressive hitting brought him a 32-ball half-century.
Pretorius hammered six over midwicket off Pennington and cleared the rope three times off Harrison, who was hit down the ground for another maximum by Leach. Back-to-back fours off Pennington from the England man raised the 400-mark in the 107th over.
Pennington had Overton (20 from 13 balls) leg before and Harrison dismissed Leach via an edge behind soon after lunch, but Nottinghamshire missed out on a third bowling point. Not only that, they were powerless to stem the flow of runs from Pretorious.
He launched one enormous slog-sweep off Harrison that achieved the not inconsiderable feat of clearing the Smith-Cooper Stand before driving Pennington for his sixth six.
The Notts reply saw Hameed and Slater reach the interval with 72 runs knocked off the deficit, a platform from which their partnership became the biggest opening stand of the season for Nottinghamshire when it passed 81. Both completed half-centuries soon afterwards, the captain from 101 balls, Slater from 107.
The final session similarly brought no rewards until the last 20 minutes of the day when Overton, bringing himself back for one last burst of pace, with Rew standing up to the stumps, bowled Hameed nine short of a century to break the partnership on 172 as the hosts finished on 177 for one, a lead of 67.