Looking over your shoulder in the County Championship adds nervousness and tension to games especially when you are playing one of those teams below you in the table.

Notts thankfully now have a cushion on Kent in one of two relegation places after a 321 run win at Trent Bridge but it didn’t always look like routine victory, the home side put into bat on day one were helped by a Ben Slater hundred although ahead of making it he had already seen three wickets fall.

Hameed (18), Young (21) and Clarke (22) all made starts but failed to ignite their engines with longer journeys at the wicket much needed to help set a strong target for the visitors to respond against.

When Slater went with the side on 169 it was left to Mullanay and Moores to take Notts to 250, eventually Mullaney fell for 28 before Moores went for a boastful 94, Notts tail end scraping the side to 350 which was about par score.

In response, Kent lost the early wicket of Compton but did fight to the fifty mark before Albert was caught by Harrison off Fletcher.

In between unwanted rain spells Kent did pass 300 but lost four wickets for sixteen runs and fell 34 short of target, Calvin Harrison with 4 wickets for 28 whilst Brett Hutton took three towards his ever growing tally which post game sits at 52 for the season.

In response, Notts flew out of the traps with a hundred partnership between Hameed and Slater before the Bolton Bradman nicked to Finch five short of his fifty.

Slater followed for 87 but New Zealander Will Young and Shrewsbury born Joe Clarke helped tick the score along to a beefy lead over 300, Clarke hitting 73 off 40 balls with 8 fours and 3 sixes whilst Young hit an 87 minute 87.

Moores (9), Mullaney (23) and James (22 not out) topped the score up to 372 for a 406 run lead before putting Kent into bat on the morning of the last day, Notts pace setters ripping into their opponents from the off who before they knew it, were 17/3 by lunch.

Albert went without score in the third over before Geddes (1) and Compton (8) fell foul of a match winning start to the second innings attack by the superb Dane Paterson and Brett Hutton.

Finch & Leaning followed off the bowling of Hitman Hutton before former Notts man Joey Evison fell victim to Paterson for his third wicket, Quinn was next for the South African with the score 78/7 before Hutton got his number four when Blake hit deep to Mullaney. Paterson took his fifth wicket of the innings disposing of Arshdeep on the boundary before Haseeb Hameed rounded things off, he had Bhuiyan caught by James for a duck and Notts win by a whopping 321.

That victory takes Notts onto 114 points for the season, currently sixth they are now 19 points above ninth placed Kent, in the second relegation spot above lowly Northamptonshire, they’ll be hoping to continue at arms length when the County Championship resumes ‘after’ the One Day Cup (and Hundred) in September.

*Article provided by Daniel Peacock (Editor).

*Main image @TrentBridge Centurion Ben Slater in action for Notts.