SOMETHING must be amiss when so many AXA League games go through sterile phases. Most likely slow pitches and regular gripes about the white ball's rapid deterioration are to blame.

This match, especially Nottinghamshire's innings, was one of the more tedious examples until Vikram Solanki, recovering from three championship ducks in a row, saved it as a spectacle with 88 off 96 balls in a win with 7.3 overs to spare.

Solanki struck seven fours and a six, nearly half of the boundaries scored in 4.5 hours. The only other batsman to make an impact was Paul Johnson, who completed 6,000 league runs for Nottinghamshire.

It said a lot about the Worcester pitch that Johnson, one of the most fluent batsmen, was in for 27 overs to make 53. The slower the bowling, the better: 16 overs by two spinners yielded only 52 runs and three wickets for Richard Illingworth.

Solanki's fifty came at a similar rate and crucially, in determining the result, he received much the greater support in half-century stands with Tom Moody and David Leatherdale.