Wood hits new high for Notts

Matthew Wood hit 77 as Nottinghamshire made a fine start to their reply today

Matthew Wood made his highest score for Nottinghamshire in the LV County Championship since joining from Somerset in the close season to enable his side to build an important lead at the Rose Bowl.

Wood made 77 and Mark Wagh a 66 as the visitors overcame Hampshire's first innings total of 293 to lead at the close by 44 with three first innings wickets remaining in this Division One clash.

Nottinghamshire overcame the early loss of Will Jefferson to Chris Tremlett as Wagh and Wood put on 149 for the second wicket in 38 overs.

Wagh should have been dismissed before he had got off the mark but Michael Lumb put him down off a straightforward chance at first slip off the persevering Tremlett.

At one stage Nottinghamshire were powerfully placed at 173 for one but then the match was turned on its head briefly when Hampshire new signing Nantie Hayward dismissed them both in the space of four deliveries.

Wagh had hit nine fours before he edged Hayward to slip, where this time Lumb made no mistake.

Wood, whose previous best score for Nottinghamshire was 59, was out three balls later, caught by wicketkeeper Nic Pothas off the bowling of Hayward.

Wood hit 12 boundaries and faced 126 balls but his dismissal revived Hampshire's hopes.

There followed an attritional period between lunch and tea when only 85 runs were scored and again Hampshire were held up - this time by a player they knew only too well.

Western Australian batsman Adam Voges, who played for Hampshire in the Twenty20 Cup last season, hung around for two and a half hours for his 49.

Voges and Bilal Shafayat put on 43 in 23 overs for the fifth wicket with Hampshire captain Dimitri Mascarenhas hard to get away.

Mascarenhas was a model of efficiency and accuracy, conceding only 14 runs from his first 17 overs and it was not until his 19th that he was hit for four.

Voges' vigil ended when James Tomlinson induced an inside edge to knock back his middle stump.

Greg Lamb took a superb one-handed return catch low to his right to get rid of Shafayat and Nottinghamshire eventually overhauled the Hampshire total in the 95th over.

As play moved towards the close, New Zealander Andre Adams succeeded where others had failed in taking the attack to Mascarenhas.

Adams hit five belligerent fours in his unbeaten 31 and, with Chris Read as a willing partner, took Nottinghamshire to a relatively prosperous 337 for seven from 102 overs in an intriguingly poised match.