Bell-Drummond carries bat as Notts eye lead
Daniel Bell-Drummond was left stranded on 84 not out as Nottinghamshire seized the upper hand after bowling Kent out inside two sessions of their Specsavers County Championship day-night match against Kent at Trent Bridge.
It was the 64th time a Kent opener had carried his bat in first class cricket as the visitors were dismissed for 180 before a gritty Steven Mullaney half-century guided Notts to 135-3 at stumps.
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The unbeaten Division Two leaders secured maximum bowling points before Kent struck three times to reduce Notts to 52-3 before Mullaney (63*) and Alex Hales (28*) added 83 for the fourth wicket to cut the lead to just 45.
Matt Coles, Adam Milne and Darren Stevens struck once each in a 42-over final session under floodlights.
Stevens struck first with Jake Libby nicking to Sean Dickson at third slip for 4 before New Zealander Milne marked his debut with the wicket of Brendan Taylor, caught behind by Adam Rouse of a steepling bouncer for 6.
Coles bowled in-form Samit Patel, fresh from successive double-hundreds, for 4 with a full ball before the fourth-wicket resistance.
Earlier, James Pattinson did the damage, before finishing with three for 30, ripping out the top order to reduce Kent to 6-3 after Sam Northeast became the first Championship captain to contest the toss and bat first at Trent Bridge.
Just 5.2 overs later, the wisdom of that decision might have been questioned as Pattinson picked up his third wicket within the space of eight deliveries.
Pattinson removed Sean Dickson and Joe Denly to lbw decisions in the space of three balls and then dismissed Northeast, caught by Mullaney at second slip in his next over.
Sam Billings, fresh from England duty, played a frenetic knock of 30 from 32 balls before losing his middle stump after playing a loose drive at Fletcher.
Darren Stevens was equally culpable, throwing his hands at Fletcher and nicking behind for 10 before Bell-Drummond reached his fifty in the first over of the second session, getting there from 99 balls with eight fours.
Will Gidman, who left Trent Bridge for Canterbury at the end of last season, twice survived streaky nicks into the slip cordon before being castled by Harry Gurney, who uprooted his former team-mates’ middle stump for 25.
Mullaney worked his way through the lower order in claiming three for two from just three overs.
Adam Rouse was caught at slip for 22 off the third ball of his spell before Coles and Milne departed to the same man.
England seamer Jake Ball brought the innings to a close by bowling Mitch Claydon and Bell-Drummond trooped off having faced 169 balls and hit 10 fours.