The first championship hundred of the season, scored at a brisk pace by the opener Steven Mullaney, set the tone for Nottinghamshire to dominate newly promoted Surrey on day one at a sunny Trent Bridge after the visiting captain, Gareth Batty, elected to bowl.
Taking advantage of the new toss regulation, which gives the away side the option to bowl first, Batty could scarcely have imagined the ease with which Mullaney and Riki Wessels in particular were able to score, with the former’s 113 from 114 balls the foundation of 446 all out.
Even though the Nottinghamshire captain Chris Read said he was “not too displeased” when Batty decided to field, his side’s total, in which they scored at a touch under five an over, recorded maximum batting points and scored 270 runs in boundaries, owed much to the Surrey attack’s indiscipline.
Read himself was left unbeaten on 63 when the final wicket fell with four overs remaining, the third in a trio of half-centuries from a batting line-up shorn of the virus-victim James Taylor, with Wessels plundering an 83-ball 81 and Samit Patel a comparatively patient 85 from 116.
The West Indian seamer Ravi Rampaul, signed on a two-year Kolpak deal late in pre-season, claimed five for 93 from 16.4 overs – figures that flattered him on his first first-class appearance for three years - before Surrey openers Rory Burns and Arun Harinath survived two overs to reach seven for none at the close.
Mullaney, who struck 18 fours in what was his ninth first-class century following his eighth against Cambridge Universty last week, later said: “We’ve spoken about people cashing in when they’re in good form so I’m disappointed not to get a real big one.
“The main thing is we are in a great position going into day two. I think if there was a toss we were going to bat first. We are a bit disappointed not to get 500, which we felt we could have done. When you’re asked to bat on day one you’re taking 446, though.”
The 29-year-old had put on something of an exhibition in cover-driving to the rope during his three hours at the crease, the shot both signalling his intent from the first ball of the morning and bringing up three-figures 55 minutes into an afternoon session that saw 196 runs scored at breakneck speed.
Wessels, coming to the crease in the 35th over, was a catalyst for this post-lunch aggression with 14 fours and one six, putting on a stand of 54 at a run-a-ball with Mullaney for the fourth wicket – the opener eventually falling to an inside edge behind that gave Rampaul his first - and then 107 with Patel in 18.5 overs.
Rampaul’s selection ahead of a fellow seamer Matt Dunn had looked curious from the outside, having had no warm-up action behind him. The 31-year-old, who still snuggly fills his apparel, struggled for rhythm, over-stepped seven times, and at 5.58 runs per over, was the costliest on show.
He did, however, remove the dangerous Wessels ahead of tea, this time off the outside edge, before returning to mop up the Nottinghamshire tail. Tom Curran, playing alongside his brother Sam, was the pick, in truth, with figures of three for 98 from 23 overs, including the opener Greg Smith for his 100th first-class wicket.
Both Smith and the No4 Brendon Taylor persuaded to edge to Kumar Sangakkara at first slip by the slippery right-armer, before Patel later picked out deep backward square-leg to spark the collapse of five for 45 in which the ample Rampaul profited.
Sandwiched between Tom Curran’s opening two wickets either side of lunch was Mark Footitt’s first for the club after joining in the winter from Derbyshire, trapping the No3 Michael Lumb for 23 with a full delivery to see Notts reach the first interval at199 for two.
The left-armer, who finished with two for 98, got the ball to swing on his return to his first county, causing Patel early problems in particular and seeing the No8 Brett Hutton bowled for a third-ball duck offering no shot amid the late clatter of wickets.
