Tom Moores hits century as Notts fight back

Tom Moores hit his maiden century as Nottinghamshire fought back hard on the third day of the Specsavers County Championship match with Somerset at Taunton.
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The 21-year-old son of head coach Peter Moores scored 103 to build on excellent work from Steven Mullaney (94), Jake Libby (69), Chris Nash (66) and Samit Patel (55) and help his side to 468 for eight at the close, a lead of 210.

Moores shared a stand of 118 with Billy Root (36) for the seventh wicket after Notts had looked in some peril at 338 for six.

It was a day of toil for Somerset’s bowlers, who were not helped by a couple of dropped catches at key times. Left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe posed the greatest threat, claiming four for 114.

Notts began the day on 112 without loss in their second innings, needing a further 146 to avoid an innings defeat. Mullaney and Libby, both unbeaten on 54 ovenight, took their stand to 145 before Libby was pinned lbw by Josh Davey.

There was nothing in the pitch for the seamers and it was van der Merwe, who made the next breakthrough with the score on 179 when Mullaney fell leg-before six short of a hundred, clearly believing he had made some contact with the bat.

The Notts skipper had faced 141 balls and hit 17 fours and a six. Twelve runs later Ross Taylor went back to cut a ball from van der Merwe that was too full for the shot and was bowled.

Nash and Patel saw the visitors to lunch on 231 for three, just 27 runs behind. Nash, on 40, was dropped at slip by Matt Renshaw, fielding on his knees, early in the afternoon session, with van der Merwe the unlucky bowler.

Both batsmen went on to half-centuries before Nash was bowled, attempting to drive Davey through the leg-side. It was 299 for four and on the same score Patel fell lbw to a ball from van der Merwe that went on with the arm.

When Riki Wessells was leg-before for 19 looking to sweep van der Merwe, Somerset were buoyant. But, with Dom Bess looking to be suffering the after effects of his Test Match exploits, left-handers Moores and Root gained in confidence.

They had already added 87 when Root was badly dropped at first slip by James Hildreth off Lewis Gregory. A further 31 runs were posted before the same batsman was bowled looking to cut a fullish ball from Bess.

By then Notts were 198 in front, but needed more insurance on an excellent batting pitch. Moores, with a previous best first class score of 43, reached his hundred off 106 balls, with 16 fours, and punched the air in delight.

Glorious sunshine had helped make batting look easy at times. But Moores had to overcome a difficult start and blossomed to produce an increasing array of impressive shots before falling in the final over of the day, lbw when missing a full ball from Bess and being struck on a foot.