Bell and Trott fail on day of woe for England contenders

Warwickshire 214 for 9 (Clarke 67, Sidebottom 3-33) trail Nottinghamshire 388 by 174 runs
Scorecard

Not a good day for Ashley Giles in either of his jobs. As an England selector, he will have hoped to see Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott declare themselves nicely in form ahead of the final Test at the Oval, which would have had obvious benefits for his state of mind as Warwickshire's director of cricket after Nottinghamshire's dominance of the opening day.

Instead, he wore a long face under both hats. Bell, at risk of seeing his comeback abruptly terminated after his double failure at Headingley, was out for one after facing six deliveries, while Trott, who had been in the squad for Leeds, chose just the wrong moment to register his lowest completed innings score since the first day of the season. Giles will be able to tell national selector Geoff Miller that Ryan Sidebottom, who took three wickets, is looking good -- but bowlers are not England's major worry.

It had been a wet and miserable morning but the drying qualities of the outfield here are becoming as renowned as the eponymous pub next door, and without the need to boast about it with a sign on the wall. Warwickshire, frustrated by their own ground's sodden surface against Somerset last week, might have been happier to spend a little longer off the field, given the short work Nottinghamshire made of their top order once play began at 1.30pm.

At first, the new opening combination of Ian Westwood and Ant Botha -- the latter taking over from the omitted Tony Frost -- coped pretty well with the threat of Sidebottom and Charlie Shreck, taking measured steps compared with the home side's Tuesday charge but building a decent platform at 35 without loss.

But after Westwood had edged Shreck low to Andre Adams at gully in the ninth over, Warwickshire fell apart with alarming speed. Botha departed in similar fashion in Shreck's next over.

Suddenly, therefore, Bell and Trott were together in the middle. It was the perfect situation, you might have thought, for the incumbent and the hopeful among England's middle-order prospects to dig themselves in, egg each other on and make just the joint statement the selectors would want to hear from them as they ponder their options for the Oval Test.

It was a script, however, that neither man could stick to. Bell, having got off the mark by clipping Shreck behind square for a single, faced only a couple of balls from Sidebottom before he was on his way, just about leaving the first but failing miserably with the second, pitched a little shorter, which he played at with the bat away from his body and nicked through to wicketkeeper Chris Read.

He had been in for 12 minutes and faced six balls for his one. It will be noted -- in both the England and Australia camps -- that after being out to Mitchell Johnson in all his three Test innings this summer, it was a left-armer who had his measure again.

With a heavy gait, Bell wandered back to the pavilion, leaving the stage to Trott. Sidebottom, clearly fired up, fixed the South African with burning eyeballs, then claimed Jim Troughton as his second victim in eight deliveries, the left-hander playing round one to be leg-before.

Trott eased his nerves with a leg-glanced four off Shreck and picked up four more with a drive, slightly mistimed, to long-off against the same bowler. But in the end he seized the moment no more effectively than Bell, edging Shreck to second slip, where Adam Voges took the catch at shin height. With Tim Ambrose-leg before to Sidebottom in the next over, at which point the bowler had figures of 3 for 11 on the day, Warwickshire were in poor shape at 66 for 6, still some 322 runs behind.

They may still not reach the follow-on threshold, although they ended the day rather closer to it than Bell and Trott may have suspected, gearing themselves up as they would have been for a quick second chance.

This was thanks largely to Rikki Clarke, who stuck around for two and a half hours for his 67, aided first by Chris Woakes, who made 22 before a quicker ball from Adams took out his off stump, then by Naqaash Tahir (24) in an eighth-wicket stand worth 69, and -- spectacularly -- by Sreesanth, who hit both Mark Ealham and Samit Patel for enormous straight sixes.

Clarke and Sreesanth, after briskly adding 39, might have put on a few more had Clarke not been run out through some fine fielding by Adams, throwing in from third man. At 214 for 9, Warwickshire were 174 behind at the close.