A valuable unbeaten seventh wicket partnership of 120 between Charlie Thurston and Nathan Buck put Northamptonshire in a commanding position at the end of day one of their 2nd XI Championship fixture against Gloucestershire at Bristol Cricket Club in Failand.
It came as no surprise that Northamptonshire elected to bat in the extreme conditions that engulphed the Southwest.
The Northamptonshire innings progressed steadily but wickets fell with regularity, and they found themselves at 258-6 when Rohan Mehmi was out with the last ball before tea.
Charlie Thurston had glued the innings together and found himself hitting yet another Northants century, finding himself on 107 not out.
It was then that Nathan Buck joined Thurston at the crease, and in the sweltering heat started to build their solid partnership as the Gloucestershire bowlers and fielders started to show the effects of a long, hot day in the field.
The Northamptonshire seventh wicket pair batted with increasing confidence with both Buck and Thurston find the gaps and alternating the strike. The two batters remained unbeaten at stumps. Thurston on 167 from 250 balls which included eighteen fours. A terrific effort in such extreme conditions. Buck finished one short of a 50 which included a massive six to deep mid-wicket off Luke Shaw.