Win takes Nottinghamshire to summit

Ali Brown played a crucial role in Notts' victory over Somerset, sharing century stands with Adam Voges in both innings

Nottinghamshire moved to the top of LV= County Championship Division One with a comfortable six-wicket win over Somerset at Trent Bridge.

The match was interestingly poised at the start of the day, with the hosts needing 149 runs to win and Justin Langer’s men requiring seven wickets.

The dangerous Charl Willoughby made an early breakthrough by claiming the scalp of Samit Patel (35).

But then Adam Voges (73 not out) and Ali Brown (63 not out) followed up their first-innings stand of 119 with an unbroken, match-clinching fifth-wicket partnership of 124.

Somerset knew they needed to take early wickets if they were to stand any hope of success on a wicket that flattened out as the match went on.

And even though Notts accrued 20 runs off the first three overs, the visitors found the breakthrough they were searching for when Willoughby swung one back into Patel and won an lbw verdict.

But the South African left-armer did not receive the requisite support at the other end and once new batsman Brown had played himself in, the result rarely seemed in doubt.

Notts moved past the 150 mark with a smartly-run two from Brown before Australian Voges drove a David Stiff full toss to the cover boundary to bring the total required to win under 100.

As Somerset juggled their bowlers in an attempt to make something happen, Voges moved to his half-century in the 52nd over from 79 balls with consecutive fours from Peter Trego’s bowling.

At the other end, Brown was getting into his stride and began to unleash some booming cover drives, but he had a let-off on 32.

He chipped Willoughby back to the bowler, who could not hold onto a catch as he was completing his follow-through.

By lunch, the home side had advanced onto 225 for four, needing just 36 more runs to get home.

Soon after the resumption Brown almost ran himself out attempting a quick single but instead picked up a five from overthrows.

The century stand was posted as Voges hammered Zander de Bruyn backward of point for another boundary and he followed it up with a textbook straight drive to the fence.

Brown moved to his own 50 from 81 balls with eight boundaries as he guided Willoughby down to third man.

And the former Surrey man finished the game in style just after 2pm by driving Omari Banks over extra cover for six.