Nottinghamshire 157 for 4 (Clarke 41*) trail Northamptonshire 158 (Vasconcelos 62, Hutton 5-37) by one run
Nottinghamshire seamer Brett Hutton took his third five-wicket haul of the season to compound his former county's ongoing batting woes on the second day of this LV= Insurance County Championship match at Wantage Road.
Hutton found plenty of movement under floodlights, cloudy skies and light rain to entice the batters into playing at balls outside off-stump and precipitate a Northamptonshire collapse as the Steelbacks lost seven wickets for 17 runs inside 12 overs before lunch, four batters falling without scoring.
When Nottinghamshire batted, a typically aggressive Ben Duckett looked a different class as he made 39 despite the bowler friendly conditions, taking seven boundaries off his former county as Nottinghamshire raced to 50 off nine overs.
Tom Taylor's introduction into the attack threatened to cause an upset when the all-rounder removed both Duckett and Haseeb Hameed in his first over. Any hopes of making short work of the visitors were dashed thanks to a fluent fourth wicket stand of 68 between Joe Clarke (41 not out) and Matthew Montgomery (34).
Earlier Northamptonshire opener Ricardo Vasconcelos impressed with 62, registering his second successive half-century of the season and sharing a third wicket partnership worth 77 with Saif Zaib. After the clatter of wickets, a spirited last-wicket partnership of 28 between Gareth Berg and Jack White, the second highest of the innings, took the hosts past 150.
Northamptonshire had resumed on 86 for two after heavy rain restricted the opening day's play to a single session. Despite Vasconcelos surviving two dropped catches on day one, he and Zaib looked solid early on.
Vasconcelos reached his half-century with a clip off his legs which reached the boundary thanks to a miss field in the deep and survived another dropped catch when he was put down at short cover on 57.
But while Vansconcelos enjoyed his luck, there was a procession of wickets at the other end against a disciplined Nottinghamshire seam attack.
Zaib was the first to go, nicking Lyndon James to Duckett, the first of three slip catches for the England opener. Four balls later Hutton claimed his first scalp when he had Rob Keogh caught behind off the outside edge for 0. Steven Mullaney then got into the action, finding some late shape to trap James Sales lbw.
Hutton found some more away movement to tempt Harry Gouldstone into prodding at one outside off-stump with Duckett taking a good low catch. He then saw off Taylor, also without scoring, Duckett again doing the honours.
Vasconcelos' near four-hour vigil finally came to an end when he too steered Hutton into the slips. Then, just before rain forced an early lunch, Jordan Buckingham was trapped lbw by Dane Paterson for 0. Berg hit a couple of lusty blows including a six over square leg before he was bowled to give Hutton his fifth wicket.
When Nottinghamshire batted, Duckett was severe on anything loose, taking three leg-side boundaries off Berg's opening two overs and punching him down the ground for four more, forcing the veteran seamer out of the attack.
Northamptonshire missed a chance to remove Duckett on 27 when he nicked White at catchable height between keeper and first slip. Taylor made sure the miss was not too costly, getting his second delivery to angle back in and trap Duckett lbw. Hameed's downfall came four balls later when Vasconcelos took a good low catch to give Taylor two wickets in his opening over. Jordan Buckingham was bowling a probing line and length from the opposite end and got his reward in the next over when Vasconcelos pouched another sharp slip catch.
In a testing spell after tea, the increasingly unlucky White had two strong appeals for caught behind denied against Joe Clarke and saw the Nottinghamshire batter twice edge just wide of the slip cordon. Montgomery was harsh on Sales, cutting and pulling him for two boundaries in his opening over but the bowler got his man caught behind to break a dangerous partnership.
