County Championship Division Two 2022
County wrap: Fastest Notts ton, Bulls duo stars again
Whirlwind 55-ball century puts Nottinghamshire in box seat at Lord's, while Labuschagne and Neser play lead hands for Glamorgan once more
cricket.com.au
15 May 2022, 03:09 PM AEST
Nottinghamshire's Steven Mullaney hit the second-fastest first-class hundred ever seen at Lord's and the quickest by a Notts batter as his side surged into the box seat over Middlesex on a dramatic County Championship day at the home of cricket.
Mullaney's 55-ball effort was laced with six fours and eight sixes and set up Notts for a declaration on the afternoon of day three, which their bowlers then took advantage of with three wickets.
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One of those was that of Victoria captain Peter Handscomb (seven), who was dismissed by his state teammate James Pattinson (1-18) for the second time in the match.
If Notts can take the final seven wickets to win the match, they will leapfrog Middlesex into top spot in division two.
Elsewhere, Queensland pair Michael Neser and Marnus Labuschagne bowled Glamorgan into a strong position with a day to play in their match against Durham at the Riverside.
After Neser's valuable 62 was part of a lower-order fightback that helped push Glamorgan to a strong first-innings lead against Ben Stokes' side, Neser and compatriot Michael Hogan made the top-order inroads to leave Durham the hosts in strife at 3-41 – still trailing by 13 runs.
But Alex Lees (61) and Scott Borthwick (90) teamed up for a valuable 138-run stand, which was broken when Labuschagne trapped Lees lbw.
The Australian then made it a double breakthrough, knocking over Borthwick with a full toss, while the wicket of Stokes – stumped for 26 – gave him three for the day and 10 in five matches this County season.
Neser, who has 20 wickets this campaign at 22.50, also weighed in impressively, cleaning up the tail to finish with 4-57.
It meant Glamorgan were left chasing 191 to win, and while they knocked over 65 of those before the close, they did so for the cost of three wickets, including the prized scalp of Labuschagne (31), who fell from the penultimate ball of the day.
Australians in 2022 County Championship
Essex: Mark Steketee
Glamorgan: Marnus Labuschagne, Michael Neser
Gloucestershire: Marcus Harris
Middlesex: Peter Handscomb
Northamptonshire: Matt Kelly
Nottinghamshire: James Pattinson
Somerset: Matt Renshaw, Peter Siddle
Warwickshire: Nathan McAndrew
Get the full rundown of Australians playing county cricket in 2022