Haynes hits a ton as Nottinghamshire draw with Essex

After three men had gone in the day’s first seven overs to leave his side just 222 ahead at 242-8, his final career-best 142, following a key 77-run recovery stand with Brett Hutton, secured the draw in the Rothesay County Championship first division against Essex at Trent Bridge.

"It was really great to get that first hundred for Notts and let's hope there's many more to come,” said Haynes. “It felt particularly special today that I could contribute something for the team. We reflected last year that I'd often looked in good touch but find odd ways of getting out.

“Brett (Hutton) played a great knock and we kept each other going. He made it easy for me to play normally and I only really changed once Dillon (Pennington, the last man) came in.

“We can take a lot of confidence from this game, being able to go toe to toe with a quality team like Essex. If we want to challenge for championships that's what we have to do. We twice fought back from difficult positions in this match.”

By the time Haynes’s hundred arrived, after eleven balls on 99 with the last man now in, the lead was 320 and 60 overs remained but Notts declined to declare and, when eventually all out for 385 after a delayed lunch, the nominal Essex target became 366 at seven per over.

Though Nottinghamshire relaxed their bid for breakthroughs only in the last over there never seemed the remotest chance they might induce panic as Paul Walter reached 41 and his captain Tom Westley a brisk 28 for Essex’s unbroken second-wicket before the umpires pulled stumps at 5pm.

The frantic start first thing thus proved the falsest of dawns for the visitors who had seized their own trio of wickets in the opening 30 minutes only to be thwarted for 24.2 overs by the ninth-wicket pair as No 10 Hutton solidly bedded in.

The new ball was available after six overs in the day but by then Shane Snater had already removed both nightwatchman Farhan Ahmed and Lyndon James, each caught behind for one, dangling the bat.

A stupendous catch from Noah Thain, diving at mid-wicket to hold on inches above the grass as Fergus O’Neill middled a sweet clip off his pads, left Notts in deep peril with effectively 86 overs still to come.

But wicket-taker Jamie Porter and partner Sam Cook proved far less threatening with the new ball than at any stage in the match hitherto and it was not until the last scheduled over before lunch that Hutton finally fell, heaving a catch to the boundary off Matt Critchley for 38.

With the last pair together the interval was delayed and Haynes, now 94, was joined by Dillon Pennington. After several agonising attempts to pierce the infield on 99, he at last drove a four and broke into jubilant celebrations of a first hundred in sixteen games for Notts after his five seasons at Worcester.

By lunch, with Essex now spreading the field far and wide to give Haynes singles he refused, the lead was 355 with 56 overs remaining. But Notts opted to bat on in the afternoon until Haynes hammered Thain down the ground and was held at long-on by Jordan Cox who threw the ball up, skipped over the rope and nipped back to complete the catch. In a final stand of 66 from ten overs, Haynes made 48 to Pennington’s unbeaten 13.

When Essex batted again at 2.20, Pennington, taking the new ball, soon had Charles Allison missed at second slip on seven but later pulled up in his fifth over to leave the field with an apparent side strain. But Hutton, hero with the bat earlier, had Allison lbw to end his third championship innings for 27 in the third and last dismissal of the 65 final overs.