However long he plays the game, Sajid Mahmood will rarely have to shoulder such a burden again. A freakish injury list meant that Lancashire's bowling attack was already down to the bare bones (some of them creaking) when Dominic Cork suffered a back spasm on Thursday evening. That left Mahmood as the sole frontline seam bowler yesterday morning and he responded with two wickets in his first over. Adam Voges and Mark Wagh then added an unbroken 111 on this cracked pitch to extend Nottinghamshire's lead at the top of the table.

Even before Cork's misfortune, Lancashire's roll call of absent bowlers was extraordinary: Andrew Flintoff, Glen Chapple, Kyle Hogg, Oliver Newby and Tom Smith (all injured), plus James Anderson on international duty. They were also missing Mohammad Yousuf, who has returned temporarily to Pakistan after entering the UK without a suitable visa.

Mike Watkinson, the Lancashire cricket manager, suggested the unpredictable pitch had been selected by the home side with an eye on Lancashire's depleted bowling. “If we'd have had a full-strength attack, would we have been playing on this pitch?” There are some nice pitches out there ready to be played on,” Watkinson said. “If we'd had Flintoff, Anderson and Chapple in our attack, I think we'd have been playing on a different wicket altogether.” Nottinghamshire began the third day needing another 112 runs to win and Mahmood briefly raised the prospect of a fightback when he took two wickets in his first over. With his first ball, he trapped Paul Franks leg-before and five balls later beat Matthew Wood for pace, sending his off stump cartwheeling out of the ground.

Inevitably, there was precious little support for Mahmood, with Steven Croft and Steven Mullaney, the batting all-rounders, the only other available seam bowlers. Voges and Wagh both drove handsomely through the off-side, with plentiful opportunities for scoring towards on short boundary towards the new stand on the Bridgford Road side of the ground.

“It was a difficult pitch for both sides, but with the strength of our attack, we weren't able to keep consistent pressure from both ends,” Watkinson said. “It's been the most difficult situation we've ever experienced in terms of injuries. We're down to rock bottom in terms of the players we've got.” Having won the toss and chosen to bat, Lancashire had been playing catch-up ever since they were dismissed for 113 on the first day, but Watkinson exempted his batsmen from blame. “When the three balls previously have hit you on the knuckles, the chest and the boot, you play a bit differently,” he said.

Lancashire: First Innings 113 (S G Law 55; D J Pattinson 6 for 30).
Second Innings 233 (C E Shreck 5 for 40)

Nottinghamshire: First Innings 202 (S R Patel 74, M A Wagh 55; S J Croft 4 for 51)
Second Innings (overnight 33-1)

M J Wood b Mahmood 28
P J Franks lbw b Mahmood 4
M A Wagh not out 43
A C Voges not out 69
Extras (lb 2, w 1) 3
Total (3 wkts, 29.3 overs) 147

Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-33, 3-36.
Bowling: Cork 1-1-0-0; Mahmood 14-3-76-3; Croft 8-1-49-0; Mullaney 2-1-3-0; Keedy 4.3-1-17-0.

Umpires: R J Bailey and J W Holder.

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