Recent Match Report – Northants vs Lancashire 2023

Lancashire 544 for 7 dec (Bohannon 128, Wells 119, Salt 107; White 3-85) drew with Northamptonshire 342 (Gay 144, Procter 75; Balderson 3-44, Morley 3-88) and 213 for 5 (Gay 61)

Yet what we witnessed on the ground that was hosting an Ashes match just a week ago was still fascinating stuff, not least because we saw a clutch of cricketers coming slowly to an understanding of their disciplines and skills. Not only Lancashire’s spinners, you understand, but also Northamptonshire’s Gay, who followed his century in the first innings with a Verdun-esque 61 in the second, a three-hour vigil which was only ended when he came down the track to Hartley and edged a catch to Keaton Jennings at slip.

Gay’s was the third wicket to fall. Lancastrian hopes had been raised before lunch, first when Ricardo Vasconcelos was leg before to a ball from Tom Bailey that both jagged back and bounced like a crumpet on lino, and then when the right-handed Justin Broad had been caught at slip by Jennings off a beauty from Morley that turned sharply and took the edge. That wicket, though, only ushered in a 96-run partnership between Gay and Whiteman that sucked 39 overs out of the day and took Northamptonshire a good way closer to the draw that says much for their backbone in a hard summer.

All the same, the draw was nowhere near a done deal when Gay was winkled out and much less so when Whiteman inside-edged a catch off Hartley to George Bell at short leg, who clutched the ball in his right hand and scampered away like a cat with the cream.

But in the very best sense, Procter is a fighter, a quality that was apparent when he was at Lancashire and is no less plain now that he leads Northamptonshire. He lost Saif Zaib, lbw when playing no shot to Luke Wells five overs after tea but Sales joined his skipper and kept him steadfast company for 25 overs. And it says much for Sales’ unflappability that Lancashire did not really look like taking a wicket in the final hour of the game. Much, too, for the cricketers on both sides over the past four days that a match which might seem a little dull to anyone casually perusing the scorecard actually offered so much quiet enjoyment to anyone who cared to become engrossed in its ebbs and flows.