Steve Patterson described the opening day of Yorkshire’s Specsavers County Championship campaign at Trent Bridge as a “tough” one.
The White Rose captain claimed two wickets and was the pick of the bowlers as Nottinghamshire closed on 324-5 thanks to Joe Clarke’s excellent unbeaten 109.
Duanne Olivier also struck twice, while Matthew Waite claimed one.
“It was a tough day,” said Patterson, who opted for an uncontested toss.
“We chose to bowl first, but the pitch probably offered a little bit less than we expected. It was very very slow, and we thought there’d be a bit more pace in it.
“It was just a tough day’s cricket, and they played well.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be a 150 pitch and we’d roll them out, but we felt if we bowled well and had a bit of luck on our side then we could bowl them out for 250 ish. It didn’t work.
“We bowled ok without being really good. It was a bit like last week (Leeds/Bradford MCC Universities at Weetwood). We couldn’t quite build pressure for long enough, so we didn’t get the rewards.
“We’ve got to come back tomorrow and try to get the five wickets as quick as we can and get batting.”
Notts built their score around Clarke’s century and opener Ben Slater’s 76. The home side posted four half-century partnerships.
Patterson added: “As I said, there was no pace in pitch, so we had a few genuine edges that you would expect on a normal day to go straight to the keeper or the slips. But they were bouncing three or four yards short.
“When it’s like that, you have to be a bit more consistent. We weren’t today.
“If you look back to an hour or so before the new ball, they were 240 or 250-5 when we got Samit Patel.
“At that stage, we thought, ‘If we can nip a couple out here, we can bowl them out for 300’. But the new ball can go one of two ways and be quite expensive on a ground like this.”
