Broad and Tahir give Notts the edge against Lancashire

Nottinghamshire's international duo Stuart Broad (3-50) and Imran Tahir (3-78) took three wickets apiece to put the hosts in a strong position against table-toppers Lancashire on the first day at Trent Bridge in the Specsavers County Championship.

Tom Smith led the way for Lancashire, scoring a gritty 70 from 200 balls, but the Red Rose squandered a strong platform of 118/1, losing eight wickets for 135 runs to finish the first day on 273/9. Smith shared 84 runs with Luke Procter (48) for the second wicket to put Lancashire in command around lunchtime after deciding to bat first, but Notts fought back to end the day in the ascendancy.

The tricky South African leg-break bowler Tahir struck important breakthroughs on his first Championship appearance of the season for Notts, including the prized scalp of Smith, who he had stumped at an important juncture in proceedings, while Broad bowled an economical 25 overs, collecting tidy figures of 3-50.

Lancashire lost an early wicket when opener Haseeb Hameed was caught in the gully by Michael Lumb off Brett Hutton (1-42) for 16, with his inside edge ricocheting off his pad and ballooning into the slip cordon at 34/1. The partnership between Smith and Procter, primarily before lunch, put Lancashire in an excellent position, with Procter's fluency at the crease helping the visitors to add runs at a good pace.

A largely positive day for Tahir started badly, as a loose first over allowed Procter to bring up the fifty-partnership off 47 balls, hitting the spinner's first ball - a no-ball - to the boundary, with his first over leaking 13 runs. Procter's seven boundaries before the lunch interval helped the visitors to reach 108/1, vindicating their decision to bat first at the toss, while Smith continued to plug away against one of the stronger bowling attacks in the country.

However, a mini collapse after lunch put the match back in the balance, as Procter (48) was bowled two runs shy of his fifty, attempting an expansive shot to Tahir at 118/2. In the context of the first day, Smith's innings proved to be crucial and the former Lancashire captain achieved only his second half-century of the season in 113 balls with seven fours.

Wickets continued to fall at the other end, with Alviro Petersen (11) edging Broad down the leg-side behind to Riki Wessels and captain Steven Croft followed (9) lbw to Tahir, but Karl Brown was able to apply a counterpunch to Broad's renewed optimism, assisting Smith to reach 192/4 at tea. Having batted for four hours prior to the interval, Smith became the fifth wicket to fall, with Tahir dragging the opening batsmen a long way down the track and beating him with sharp turn, offering Wessels a routine stumping at 199/5.

With their confidence partially dented, Lancashire were made to work hard for their runs in the evening session, but the loss of Karl Brown (36) when the new ball arrived signalled another patchy spell for the visitors on what should have been a largely positive day with the bat. Harry Gurney (2-53) struck in his second over with the new ball, forcing Brown to edge behind to Wessels after adding 40 runs with Liam Livingstone.

Jordan Clark survived a vociferous appeal from Gurney shortly after this wicket for another caught behind, but he managed to add just one run to the total before tamely playing the ball back into Broad's hands at 250/7. Lancashire lost three quick wickets before the close for the addition of as many runs, with Neil Wagner (0) taking a nasty blow to the head in the process of his departure.

The Kiwi got a bouncer from Gurney that caught him on the back of the head and while he was taken aback by the shock of being hit, the ball trickled onto his stumps with enough power to dislodge one of the bails. Wagner's availability for the rest of this match will have to be decided depending on the severity of his injury, but if he is unable to turn out when Lancashire take their turn to bowl, it will leave a big gap in the bowling ranks.

Livingstone's charmed innings of 33 from 69 balls featured several near-misses, but his luck finally ran out when he mistimed a swipe off Broad, forcing Samit Patel to take a well-judged catch at point after the ball flew high into the air off Livingstone's bat. Kyle Jarvis (17*) and Matthew Parkinson (3*) allowed Lancashire to reach stumps nine down for 273, with Broad and Tahir's wickets putting Nottinghamshire in the ascendancy after Smith and Procter's strong partnership in the morning session.