Tony Penberthy rescued Northamptonshire from disaster marshalling the tail past 200 against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.

The visitors had been in trouble early on after skipper Mike Hussey had elected to bat, as both he and fellow opener Adrian Rollins departed with only 23 on the board.

A minor revival came in the form of a partnership of 65 for the third wicket between Mal Loye and Russell Warren, but when Loye went for 37 after lunch, he was followed just two balls later by Graeme Swann.

Warren himself was out for 42 shortly afterwards and when Jeff Cook (4) was followed by Toby Bailey, run out for the same score, Northants had collapsed to 127 for seven.

Penberthy stabilised the ship though, putting on a partnership of 59 for the eighth wicket with tailender Ricky Anderson (26) and taking his side past 200.

There was more pain for Nottinghamshire as Penberthy nursed number 11 Darren Cousins through an unbeaten partnership of 53 for the last wicket.

At the close, the 32-year-old batsman notched his second half-century of the season, reaching an unbeaten 83 from 110 balls, with Northants closing in on a second batting point on 249 for nine.

Nottinghamshire: D J Bicknell, J E R Gallian (Capt), G E Welton, U Afzaal, N Boje, P Johnson, C M W Read (Wkt), R J Logan, G J Smith, A J Harris, M N Malik.

Northamptonshire: M E K Hussey (Capt), A S Rollins, M B Loye, R J Warren, J W Cook, G P Swann, A L Penberthy, T M B Bailey (Wkt), R S G Anderson, C G Greenidge, D M Cousins.

Umpires: K E Palmer and J F Steele