Nottinghamshire in driving seat

Nottinghamshire's Mark Wagh drives on his way to 56 not out against Yorkshire

Nottinghamshire out-bowled and out-batted Yorkshire to take charge on day two of their LV County Championship Division One match at Trent Bridge.

First, Charlie Shreck (5-58) made the most of traditional Nottingham swing to earn his team a 52-run first-innings lead; then Bilal Shafayat (62) and Mark Wagh (56no) shared a second-wicket stand of 103.

By stumps, the hosts were 146 for two - and Yorkshire knew they would be up against it to win from behind, batting last on a slow pitch offering just occasional awkward bounce but with swing always likely to come to the bowlers’ aid too.

Yorkshire began the day by compliantly reprising their stumbles - from an overnight 72 for five to 95 for eight at one stage - before handy ninth and 10th-wicket stands carried them to 161 all out.

First to go on a bright but occasionally cloudy morning was nightwatchman Matthew Hoggard, guiding a catch to third slip off Andre Adams.

New batsman Adil Rashid was quickly under way with three boundaries.

But the last of them, a push-drive to the short cover boundary, was followed by instant revenge for Shreck - who had the young all-rounder lbw in the crease with some full-length swing.

There was more of the same for the Cornishman two overs later, Gerard Brophy the victim this time - missing on the forward defence and routinely dispatched by umpire Nigel Llong.

Rana Naved-ul-Hasan briefly punctured the gloss on Shreck’s figures with some ambitious driving, which culminated in a six over extra-cover - before he was yorked and lost his leg-stump to another inswinger.

Notts may return to the top of the table with a win this week.

By contrast, after six single-figure scores out of the first eight in the innings, Yorkshire’s mid-season slide appeared to be gathering momentum.

Naved-ul-Hasan had kickstarted a mini-fightback, continued by last pair Tim Bresnan and Deon Kruis - who added 46 before Mark Ealham (3-17) made the former the fourth lbw departure of the innings in the first over after lunch.

Yorkshire needed to make their hosts work hard for their runs second time round, and Hoggard managed an early breakthrough by pinning Matt Wood lbw on the back foot.

Thereafter, though, Shafayat and Wagh dug in and became increasingly untroubled under ever clearer skies.

Bilal Shafayat ducks a bouncer en route to 62

The nearest Yorkshire came in 40 overs was when an edge from the number three off Naved-ul-Hasan, on four, did not have quite enough carry for Joe Sayers to complete the catch at third slip.

Wagh, the more convincing, reached his fifty in three balls fewer than his partner’s 125.

Each passed the milestone with his seventh four, Shafayat’s an edge to third man off Bresnan and Wagh’s a resounding pull off Rana.

Shafayat went in freak circumstances, to a catch by Naved-ul-Hasan running round from mid-on to collect a fierce drive struck straight back at Hoggard - who could not hold the return chance but got enough on it to make the ricochet possible.

Yorkshire otherwise ran through all their frontline bowling options to no avail.

Rashid found only slow turn from the pavilion end - and although there were irregular examples of exaggerated lift for the seamers, that must have been of less concern to the team with runs on the board than opponents without.

Shafayat was phlegmatic about his weird and wonderful dismissal - and certainly will not allow it to detract from a “fantastic” day for Notts.

“It was a bit bizarre - the first time I’ve got out quite like that, although I’ve been out in a few odd ways,” he said.

“He (Hoggard) got a hand, a bit of leg on it - and then it looped up straight to the man coming in from mid-on. But that’s how it goes sometimes.

“I don’t think I could really have played it any different - that was about as hard as I could have hit it, and on another day it would have been four.”

There was plenty of consolation nonetheless for Shafayat, not least his first championship fifty of a season in which he has had to fight his way back into the first team.

“It was a fantastic day for us all in all,” he added. “It was a great effort by firstly our bowlers to get Yorkshire out for 160, which gave us a little bit of a lead.

“To get three or four of their guys out immediately was fantastic for us. Then obviously with the bat, that was the next job.

“Losing Woody early was a blow - and then ‘Waggy’ and I just had to dig in, see off the storm at the start. Then as the day went on, it got easier - and we cashed in when we could.”