Footitt started the rot for Notts with the dismissal of Gallian

Nottinghamshire were dismissed for just 191 against the MCC at Lord's on the opening day of the new county season.

Rain prevented play until 1400 BST and the champions were soon in trouble.

Darren Bicknell (36) and Jason Gallian (20) put on 44 but Notts slumped to 129-6 before Mark Ealham (25) and Paul Franks (30no) tried to rally them.

The MCC's 41-year-old cricket boss John Stephenson took 3-6 to polish the tail off before the hosts lost Alastair Cook for just one as they closed on 7-1.

Watching England selector Geoff Miller will have been disappointed by Cook's demise, while another young Test star, Monty Panesar, finished wicket-less.

But the performance of Surrey all-rounder Rikki Clarke, who impressed on the England A tour of the Caribbean, is sure to have caught his eye.

Mark Footitt ended the opening stand by having county team-mate Gallian - captaining the side in Stephen Fleming's absence - caught behind, while Tim Bresnan (3-60) removed Russell Warren for a duck in similar fashion to set the visitors back.

There was a familiar early-season sight in the morning at Lord's

Clarke then bowled with discipline and hostility to surprise Bicknell with some extra bounce before Bresnan tempted Will Smith into driving straight to cover and Chris Read chipped the Yorkshire seamer to Panesar at mid-on.

Ealham's resistance ended when he clipped Clarke to square-leg and Stephenson took advantage of Nottinghamshire's early-season rustiness to wrap up the innings.

Graeme Swann edged low to Clarke at first slip, while Greg Smith and Ryan Sidebottom were trapped lbw.

"If I can rein in some of the passion I sometimes show and concentrate on what I can do, then hopefully I won't be too far away from getting my England place back," said Clarke.

"Everyone seems to forget that I was around the squad when I was only 20 - I'd only played nine first-class matches when I went on my first England tour - I'm 24 now.

"I've had a little taste of it, gone away and learnt from it and now I'll hopefully come back a stronger and better person and a better player."