With his match figures now reading 11 for 111, the New Zealand fast bowler played a crucial hand on the third day for Lancashire, after claiming the best figures on debut for the Red Rose county since 1923 with his first-innings haul of 6-66.
Lancashire's overseas recruit ripped through the Nottinghamshire lower-order in the evening session, as the visitors were bowled out for 175 in their second innings, setting the Red Rose county a meagre target of 86 to win on the final day.
Three wickets for James Anderson (3-29) also proved vital, as several Nottinghamshire batsmen made starts without managing to make a telling contribution, although the England international's efforts were largely overshadowed by Wagner, who is proving to be a quality signing for the four-day campaign.
Wagner's match figures of 11-111 are the second best by a Lancashire player on debut and the best figures by a debutant since Murali Kartik took 10-168 against Essex in 2005. Nottinghamshire's second innings started brightly, but they fell to pieces when Wagner came into the attack in the evening session, losing eight wickets for 82 runs to hand Lancashire a straightforward victory tomorrow.
Debutant Liam Livingstone added seven runs to his overnight score of 63 not out, but he fell in the second over to Jake Ball (4-63), who struck with his first delivery of the day to deny Livingstone a century in his first innings in four-day cricket for Lancashire.
This ended an invaluable ninth-wicket partnership worth 69 runs between Livingstone and Kyle Jarvis, who added 37 runs to the total before he was the final wicket to fall, edging Samit Patel to Steven Mullaney at slip.
After managing to reach 332, Lancashire knew that a lead of 90 runs would prove to be incredibly useful, as they went about their search for early wickets to put pressure on Nottinghamshire in their second innings. Anderson and Jarvis bowled a nagging line with typically unsettling pace, with the latter bowling five consecutive maidens during a hostile spell to Mullaney and fellow opener Greg Smith (41).
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| James Anderson took three wickets in Nottinghamshire's second innings. |
The Notts duo batted superbly under the circumstances, ensuring that the visitors reached lunch with all ten second-innings wickets in hand. Resuming on 32/0 after 25 hard-fought overs, Mullaney (21) and Smith were hoping to avoid a repeat of the first innings, in which several Nottinghamshire batsmen made starts without going on to make a telling contribution.
However, after going wicketless in the first innings and before lunch, Anderson was finally rewarded with a breakthrough, removing Mullaney's off-stump at 52/1 with a delivery that kept low on the Notts opener and set Lancashire on their way to a positive afternoon session.
Simon Kerrigan then accounted for Smith, who tried to whip the left-arm spinner into the leg-side, only to chip the ball to Steven Croft at cover, with the scoreboard reading 76/2. Brendan Taylor took a liking to Kerrigan, charging down the wicket to hit his flighted spin for the first six of the match, but he was unable to control his eagerness, offering Lancashire their third wicket when Jarvis came back into the attack.
The Zimbabwean fast bowler picked up a wicket with his first ball after lunch, forcing his compatriot to chip an impatient stroke to Livingstone, who had to take a good catch at mid-wicket to hang on. Unable to support the efforts of their opening batsmen, the visitors continued to lose wickets before tea, with Michael Lumb (19) being pinned lbw on the crease by Neil Wagner, who added his seventh wicket of the match after taking 6/66 in the first innings.
Lumb's dismissal on the stroke of tea left Nottinghamshire struggling on 99/4, the second wicket to have fallen for the addition of six runs, with the visitors only marginally ahead after overturning Lancashire's first-innings lead of 90 runs.
The trend of Nottinghamshire batsmen relinquishing their wicket after making promising starts continued into the afternoon session with both Riki Wessels (16) and Patel falling after tea to leave the visitors in all sorts of trouble. Wessels was beaten for pace and wrapped on the pads by Anderson, who collected his second scalp of the innings, before Patel (18) was caught well by Livingstone on the square-leg boundary, attempting to hook a delivery from Wagner into the stands.
As far as Wagner was concerned, the best was yet to come, as the New Zealander took two wickets in two balls with the new ball to enhance Lancashire's dominance. Wagner took the new ball part-way through the over, deciding that he would see what it had to offer against the exposed Nottinghamshire tail-end.
Stuart Broad (4) was unable to repeat his efforts from the first innings, although it took a superb one-handed catch by Haseeb Hameed at short leg to remove the England bowler, with Wagner hitting his straps as part of a devastating spell for the Red Rose.
Wagner made an immediate impression with the new cherry, bowling Jake Ball (5) and trapping Jackson Bird lbw for no score to secure a second five-wicket haul in the game and leave Notts in a pit of despair at 167/9.
He was denied a hat-trick by Chris Read, who was once again on hand to offer lone resistance, although his efforts were in vain. Read, who finished unbeaten on 25, was left stranded by his teammates, who folded under the pressure of a ferocious seam pairing of Wagner and Anderson, who were stronger than they had ever been in this game with the new ball in hand.
Harry Gurney's wicket brought Nottinghamshire's miserable batting collapse to a conclusion when he edged behind to Alex Davies off Anderson, as the visitors were skittled for 175 in their second innings. With only a handful of overs left in the day, Lancashire were forced to wait until the final day to start their chase of 86 to win their first Championship game of the season, a task they should achieve early tomorrow.
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