Worcestershire CCC collected 15 points from their third successive draw in the LV=Insurance County Championship after Nottinghamshire openers Haseeb Hameed and Ben Slater batted through the final day at New Road.
The County forced the follow on yesterday afternoon after bowling out their opponents for 276 to establish a first-innings lead of 160.
Worcestershire Club Captain Joe Leach rang the changes to his attack today in a bid to repeat the heroics of yesterday when ten wickets fell inside two sessions.
But Hameed and Slater’s second significant partnership of the game on a slow pitch and good batting strip offering slow turn resulted in the two sides shaking hands with Nottinghamshire 236-0.
Hameed (114 not out) collected his second hundred of the game and set a new record for the most balls faced in a County Championship match – 635 – beating the 625 by Jamie Cox for Somerset versus Hampshire at Southampton in 1999, while Slater also finished unbeaten on 114.
Worcestershire collected four batting points and three bowling points to add to the eight for a share of the spoils, and they now have totalled 41 from their first three games.
They can take plenty of positives from a game in which they totalled 400 plus for the second time in three games, with five players scoring fifty plus and being followed by another sterling first innings bowling performance.
Next up for Worcestershire is another attractive home fixture against reigning champions Essex beginning on Thursday.
Slater enjoys batting at New Road, and last summer, when on loan to Leicestershire, scored 172 against Lancashire in a match switched to a neutral venue because of the impact of COVID-19.
Nottinghamshire resumed on 87-0, and Slater cut Charlie Morris for his eighth four to reach a 109-ball fifty in the second over of the day.
Hameed leg glanced Alzarri Joseph to the boundary to bring up the 100 in the 40th over.
There was a moral victory for the bowler when Slater edged a delivery from Leach onto the boot of keeper Ben Cox.
Joseph also beat the forward lunge of Slater on 75. One run later, the same player survived a confident caught behind appeal off the same bowler.
The morning session yielded 57 runs from 30 overs.
The opening pair continued in the same manner after the resumption, and the deficit of 160 was cleared in the 72nd over.
Slater was first to three figures with a thickish edge to backward point off D’Oliveira for a single from the 268th ball he faced, and it contained 11 fours.
But Hameed followed shortly after tea when he swept D’Oliveira fine for his 13th four from his 288th delivery, and the Gunn-Whysall record was broken soon afterwards.
Their partnership broke a 97-year-old record for the highest first-wicket partnership in matches between the two counties, surpassing the 220 by George Gunn and William ‘Dodger’ Whysall for Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in 1924.