[onemorerun]

Wakely dropped!

Thurston and Cobb replace Wakely and Gleeson.

Procter out early, not sure trying to make him an opener is working.

When was the last time we had two genuine openers? This is not a rhetorical question, I really can't remember. Did Stephen Peters ever have a genuine opener at the other end? Do we have to go back to the Fordham and Felton days?

[Nick14]

A long, long time. This has to be one of the weakest line ups we have fielded in recent memory. Good luck to them. Curran has battled to 38 from 72 balls so showing some grit which is good. Levi out cheapley yet again - really wish he was leaving.

[Nick14]

Another pathetic display. Cobb is another one that should be nowhere near a four day team. What is he there to do? Never bowls and never makes any runs. Zaib seems similar - is he a batter? H doesn't seem to bowl - and if a batter why does he not bat higher? There seem to be several spots taken by people who never or rarely contribute. Only plus so far is Curran making his first 50 - encouraging especially in such a poor side.

[onemorerun]

Commentator on radio said Cobb just clearly couldn't be bothered to spend the afternoon batting. Others also criticised for careless dismissals.

With every match, I'm less and less convinced that Ripley can turn this around. Maybe it needs a batting coach who isn't so cosy with the players. Maybe this attitude has been there for a long time - I remember that Kepler Wessels was attacked by the players for being too much of a disciplinarian. Good old Ken Turner would have told many of the present squad that if they didn't want to play cricket, they should look for another job.

[Nick14]

The attitude is off I think - social media doesn't reflect well on club and several players - Cobb is a classic example. Cobb is a watse of space in four day stuff. He isn't the only one. Anyway - we may get over 200 which, for this line up, and in the context of this season, will be something of an achievement. How many tons for the whole team this year in 4 day stuff? 3? Imagine that in years gone by!

[onemorerun]

The attitude is off I think - social media doesn't reflect well on club and several players

I would be interested to know more about this.

[Nick14]

Zaib making me eat my words which is great - 48 not out and we are close to 250.

[onemorerun]

Zaib get his fifty. Now on 56, Northants reach 250 after being 170-8.

Well supported by the bowlers - shows what a poor effort was made by the alleged batsmen.

[Nick14]

Bolwing unit good again - Sanderson gets his 50 wickets in the champ this year - at a tiny average too - our best 4 day bowler so that is something to build on next year - and Hutton has been decent too - 35 wickets for him now - three 5fors too. If only the batting could sort itself. Cobb is pathetic and Levi too - two experienced batters playing multiple 4 day games and doing nothing.

[Bucksman]

Wakely dropped!

I'm not sure he has been!

Speaking to a member on Monday who was at Canterbury, I gather he got a knock on the wrist (rather than a slap!) when batting, which necessitated a delay in proceedings, although he subsequently continued his innings. Possibly, his absence is related to that incident.

I hope we are not in the process of squandering yet another great match winning opportunity, with the almost obligatory middle order collapse from yesterday's 154-2 to the late struggle to keep the innings afloat. Encouragingly, I thought Charlie Thurston batted well for his 25, initially helping to steady the boat, before losing concentration and driving straight to cover.

The end of the innings has come quickly this morning, as expected, but we should still have a good chance on a pitch still offering something to the bowlers.

[Bucksman]

Sanderson has struck already. Now with over 50 wickets for the season, we can only hope that Yorkshire don't have designs on trying to get him back, now that Brooks is departing for pastures new.

[Bucksman]

Oh dear, yet another defeat that should never have been allowed to happen. It's generally the story of the season, and this time the captaincy of Alex Wakely cannot be held responsible.

The rot effective started yesterday with the dismissal of Levi, caught of a skier to deep midwicket having being dropped in the same place minutes earlier. From that point, all concentration seemed to drain out of the batting... and so on!

A good effort by the seamers, but yet not quite enough. A good spinner could well have made the difference in the circumstances.

[saintcobbler]

We just seem to have the knack of losing tight games. Can't see Sanderson staying with us much longer. I've never felt more depressed about the NCCC playing situation.

[Bucksman]

Agreed, there seems little at the moment to feel particularly positive about and, as usual, the head coach is left clutching at straws following this latest seizure of defeat from the proverbial jaws of victory...

https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/spor ... -1-8634913

In the greater scheme of things, it could be said to be largely irrelevant anyway, as aiming for promotion is effectively an unrealistic objective in the context of the limitations of the present squad.

This is not a bad team (clearly, as we know, stronger in bowling than batting) and, somehow, we need to see the development of a more confident team ethos to help bring out consistently the best of the resources at our disposal to actually win games.

[onemorerun]

Ripley saying they've got bids in for two players - a t20 player and 'a domestic player who's recently become available' - any guesses?

As for the Derbyshire match, the bowlers were again let down by the (alleged) batters. The bowlers must be thinking that they repeatedly do their job, but the batters aren't doing theirs. Without Zaib and the tail adding 85 in the first innings, we'd have been thrashed in this match.

Sanderson is contracted until the end of 2020, but we've seen with Gleeson that that isn't necessarily written in stone. Good news is that Vasconcelos has signed a three year contract (to end of 2021 season). So the contracts run as follows:

2018 - Zaib
2019 - Keogh, Levi, White, Newton, Wakely, Buck, Cobb
2020 - Rossington, Curran, Procter, Sanderson, Hutton
2021 - Vasconcelos, Muzarabani

No confirmation of whether Zaib's contract is renewed. He didn't bowl a single ball in the Derbyshire match - so now we include specialist number 8 batsmen? On what we've seen, I hope they persevere with Zaib, but he could be forgiven for thinking that he might getter more opportunity elsewhere.