Chris Read steered Nottinghamshire to a comfortable draw against Lancashire despite a burst of three wickets in four balls from Dominic Cork.

Notts were in trouble at 46-3 after being set a victory target of 315.

But Read came in at number five to share a fourth-wicket stand of 70 with makeshift opener Paul Franks.

And Read reached an unbeaten 71 before shaking hands on a draw with home skipper Luke Sutton with 11 overs of the final day's allocation remaining.

The day had begun with Lancashire 146-4 and there was time for Francois Du Plessis to complete his second half-century of the match.

He put on 72 for the sixth wicket with Sutton, who declared on 234-6 immediately after his own dismissal, top-edging a sweep at Samit Patel.

Franks and Will Jefferson encouraged Notts' hopes of an unlikely victory by putting on 32 in six overs before lunch.

But Cork, who had taken 3-60 in their first innings, then seized the initiative for Lancashire.

He had Jefferson lbw with his third ball, and two deliveries later Sutton took a good low catch down the leg side to send back Mark Wagh for a duck.

Cork then bowled Patel for a golden duck with a full, swinging delivery, but that was as close as Lancashire were to come to forcing a win.

They finally turned to Du Plessis's occasional leg spin just before tea and although he disappeared for a flurry of boundaries he at least removed Franks before the game fizzled out in a draw.