Today this magnificent old ground received a few more love notes, but not all of them were from the cricketers. Trent Bridge has now received more love letters than Marilyn Monroe ever did.
However, the first one came from Alastair Cook, whose overtures were as kind as one might anticipate; his 72 was peppered with the shots he frequently made at Nottingham while representing England.
As Essex was bowled for 298—two runs shy of earning a second bonus point—later in the day, the blandishments of Stuart Broad and Brett Hutton were brusque. The pair shared seven wickets, four of which came with the second new ball. Finally, a straight-driven boundary from Haseeb Hameed brought this fruitful day to a close.
But perhaps it was natural that Trent Bridge would provide us with relief following the mind-numbing boredom of Lancashire’s draw with Somerset at Emirates Old Trafford on Sunday.
The people in the Radcliffe Road Stand are aware that some of these may seem unrelated to cricket, despite the fact that we had three sessions at Nottingham that were jam-packed with wonderful stuff.
For instance, rather than the reinforced toilet paper that some counties currently regard as acceptable, the scorecards are really constructed of cards. And rather from being a press officer’s postmodernist application for the Booker Prize, the teams printed there are a near approximation of the elevens that take the field.
They informed us this morning that Ben Duckett would not be playing for the home team and that Calvin Harrison would be making his first-class debut for Nottinghamshire.
We then learned that the ECB had removed Duckett after he had scored 401 runs in nine innings since April 6, perhaps to prevent him from passing out from severe exhaustion.
Such a horrible destiny has not yet befallen Broad, and nearly the first notation the diligent onlookers could make on their clean scorecards today was to note Nick Brown’s dismissal, leg before wicket for 11 when half forward in the fifth over.
Unfortunately, Broad claimed his victim without asking umpire O’Shaughnessy for his ruling, a technique that always comes off as impolite and will undoubtedly spur countless copies in youth cricket leagues across the nation.
However, these things couldn’t ruin our morning. Cook, who only faced six balls during his old mucker’s five-over opening period, seemed to be batting with more freedom in his latter years. In the first hour, he milked three off-side fours off Hutton and Dane Paterson.
Then, three overs before lunch, Westley, who was as cautious as a cat in a rat’s lair, straight-driven Broad to the pavilion boundary. Westley had been picking up ones and twos for 70 balls.
On the second attempt, the two carried on in a comparable manner. The weather was pleasant and there was no wind, so it looked like we were in for an afternoon of batting with Cook using his exceptional patience and focus to help Essex construct something very impressive.
When the Essex captain was on 40 and Ben Slater dropped Westley at long leg off Dane Paterson, we believed the home team could not afford such sloppiness. As it happened, they could.
A wide ball from the same bowler was attempted to be driven by Cook six over later, and Harrison made his debut with a solid two-handed catch to his left. Westley then bottom-edged a pull effort from Paterson and splayed his stumps like a drunk motorist scattering bollards, just as he was starting to dominate Steven Mullaney’s onslaught.
Although they had assistance from their rivals, Nottinghamshire’s bowlers were as quick as ever to spot an opening and claimed two more wickets in the following half-hour. Dan Lawrence drove Hutton down the wicket before feathering it to Joe Clarke behind the stumps.
It was a strange “england23” shot, and unsympathetic onlookers may have pointed out that Lawrence would have been better off considering what Essex needed right now rather than what Ben Stokes would want in three weeks. In any case, it was a poor effort. Matt Critchley humbly followed a ball from Hutton two overs later, and Essex returned to the pavilion on 205 for 5.
The paradox was that Nottinghamshire’s exhausted bowlers needed the 20-minute rest less than Essex’s inexperienced batsmen. When play resumed, the majority of the home offense overpitched, and Simon Harmer and Adam Rossington both gave such deliveries considerable rumpo.
When Broad took the new ball and arrowed one into the pads of Harmer, who had scored 75 runs in their 75-run stand for the seventh wicket, Harmer walked without waiting to be instructed to. They had biffed 10 fours in their 75-run stand.
Thus, neither the bowler nor the batsman needed the assistance of the umpire on this particular day. Perhaps O’Shaughnessy should file for some type of unemployment compensation.
The last shift of the day was highlighted by Harmer’s dismissal. The day’s sport was brought to a close by Essex losing their final five wickets for 28 runs in less than ten overs, which was warmly received by the majority of Trent Bridge spectators.
They are aware that this is the best Test venue to watch county cricket, and that only the deep-dyed at other locations contest Nottingham’s status as the top team.
This would lead some neutrals to develop a twisted will to resist its allures, but such a commitment would be pointless. We transform into pliable clay in the hands of people who took part in the inheritance of this place and lovingly constructed it at the sight of the old pavilion or the uniformly painted white seats.
The fact that we saw O’Shaughnessy and Tom Lungley going around the perimeter this morning shortly before the toss was really no coincidence. They might have been circumventing a parish from the Middle Ages.