Lumb ends century drought to keep Notts in touch

Nottinghamshire 316 for 7 (Lumb 108, Mullaney 56) trail Warwickshire 373 (Woakes 121, Barker 113, Trott 68) by 57 runs
Scorecard

The embrace he shared with batting partner Samit Patel after lofting a ball from Jeetan Patel over the infield for his 19th boundary told something of the relief being felt at that moment by Nottinghamshire's Michael Lumb.

It completed his 20th first-class hundred, the most pertinent fact attached to which is the time elapsed since the 19th, some two years and eight months, the toughest of times for the former England batsman, who turned 36 in February this year.

It encompassed a long lay-off following surgery on a torn forearm tendon, keeping him out of action for the best part of six months until June last year, and then a broken thumb, after which the form that had seen him make almost 2000 runs across all formats in 2013, and then score a century on his ODI debut for England in February 2014, seemed to belong to another player.

"It has been a strange couple of years," he said. "I had problems with the arm for a while, lots of trouble and little niggles, and all the time I was playing through the pain I was doing more damage until it came to the point that the tendon just tore away from the bone.

"The surgeons did a great job but it was a long time to be sidelined and when you come back from a long-term injury you find yourself chasing the game, trying to get back into form. It is just a matter of time but there are always little demons in your ahead when things are not going your way.

"So there was a lot of relief today. When you do all your rehab and the hard work in the nets, when you do finally get over a line after a long period without scoring runs, and against a good attack who are bowling well, it feels good."

Lumb's form began to return in Australia, during his fifth Big Bash stint with the Sydney Sixers. There would be no final this time, after finishing runners-up in 2014-15, but Lumb was the pick of their batsmen, scoring 253 runs at an average of 31.62.

He found fluency from the outset here, following on from his 78 against Middlesex at Lord's last week, even if he did have a slice of luck at the start, before he was off the mark, edging a ball from Keith Barker which Tim Ambrose, diving across first slip for a low chance, could not hold.

That moment apart, he looked in exceptionally good touch, completing his first half-century from just 48 balls and advancing to 75 from 73, despite the loss of a partner who had also looked in good rhythm when Steven Mullaney was strangled down the leg side by Chris Woakes for 56.

Mullaney's departure changed things somewhat. Warwickshire's bowling began to find some consistency, with Rikki Clarke delivering an exceptional spell, backed up by Chris Wright and then Jeetan Patel. Brendan Taylor and Riki Wessels, neither of whom has found his best form so far, found the going much harder and the scoring rate slowed almost to a halt.

It took Lumb another 81 deliveries to reach 100, with suddenly very few easy runs on offer. It took some discipline to be so circumspect, given how much he wanted to make the most of his form, but ultimately the graft paid off. His last first-class century, against Derbyshire, had been on September 24, 2013.

Samit Patel will feel he wasted his chance, making a reasonable start but then misjudging a pull against Clarke and giving first slip Varun Chopra an easy catch, but Chris Read and Brett Hutton added a potentially valuable 49 for the seventh wicket before Read followed a ball from Woakes to be caught behind.

Clarke and Barker finished the day with identical figures, Clarke playing a role too in the dismissal of Lumb to Patel, who induced a catch to first slip off bat and pad.