Nottinghamshire 383 (Lumb 108, Hutton 59, Mullaney 56, Clarke 4-72) and 21 for 3 need 206 more runs to beat Warwickshire 373 and 236 (Chopra 82, Trott 59, Fletcher 4-25, Patel 4-71)
Scorecard

If the script he'd dreamed up for his Trent Bridge comeback was somewhat spoiled when Chris Woakes and Keith Barker countered his three-wicket new ball burst with hundreds on Sunday, Luke Fletcher was determined that no one would steal his storyline a second time as Nottinghamshire pushed for a second win of the season.

Showing stamina that mocks his build and accuracy that defies his rolling approach to the crease, Fletcher more than doubled his match haul with four more wickets as Warwickshire allowed the platform they had built to put themselves in control to collapse around them.

In a calamitous passage after tea, Warwickshire lost five wickets for 22 runs slide to 202 for 9. Woakes and Chris Wright added 34 runs for the last wicket. It left Nottinghamshire with what appeared to be a modest target of 227 to win, although after losing three wickets in the eight overs they were required to negotiate at the end of the third day it now looks considerably less straightforward.

What's more they have already lost the two batsmen they would have trusted most to ease them home. Steven Mullaney fell to the fifth ball of the innings when he edged Barker to second slip and Michael Lumb, who played so well for his century on the second day, perished for just 8 when Barker moved one away to find the edge again, Varun Chopra holding the chance at first slip.

Jeetan Patel will be a threat as always on a wearing pitch, although the weather may yet have a say, with the forecasts promising heavy rain.

Whatever the outcome, Fletcher will feel he has proved a point at a time when it was beginning to look as though his future might be away from Trent Bridge.

Although a key member, thanks to his reliability at the death, of the county's one-day teams, he has found himself in competition with the emerging talents of Jake Ball, Brett Hutton and Luke Wood for a place in Nottinghamshire's Championship side. He was loaned to Surrey for a while last season and began the current campaign with Derbyshire, where he would be still had Ball not been called up for his first taste of Test cricket.

Mick Newell, director of cricket at Trent Bridge, insists that Fletcher still has a future with his home county but admits that Wood would have taken Ball's place in this match had he not reported in with a stiff back.

All the more satisfying then for Fletcher to finish with match figures of 7 for 95, having taken as many wickets in his 16 overs yesterday as he had managed in four games for Derbyshire. A new father, he would prefer not to up sticks and move to another part of the country, so a permanent switch to the Peakites would be painless in some ways. If he can maintain this kind of form, though, he might not need to think about it.

Either side of his exploits with the ball, Fletcher batted twice and was out twice as the contest moved on apace. In the morning he scored 29 valuable runs as Nottinghamshire took a fourth batting point and a lead of 10 on first innings, although at a cost of some pain, taking a blow on the hand from Woakes and one in the box from Chris Wright, after which he needed several minutes to recover. Brett Hutton, who has the potential to be a genuine allrounder, made a bright 59 before a loose drive off Rikki Clarke had him caught at gully. Fletcher reappeared as nightwatchman after Lumb's demise but soon edged Woakes to slip.

Warwickshire are suffering somewhat from having too many batsmen simultaneously in need of a score. Ian Westwood, possibly in the worst touch of them all, was unlucky to get a snorter from Fletcher that he could only fend off to backward point. Laurie Evans was the victim of a fine piece of fielding from Jackson Bird although the single he thought he could take was never on. Sam Hain was drawn into playing at one from Bird that took the edge.

By contrast, Jonathan Trott looked in fine touch, hitting Bird for four boundaries in one over and Hutton for three in another, before being undone by one from Samit Patel that kept low and hit him in front. Chopra looked good for a second century of the summer but was caught behind off another fine delivery from Fletcher immediately after tea, sparking the collapse.