John Sadler has praised the batting group after Day 2 of the Club’s final warm up fixture against Leicestershire.
An hour of snow greeted the players when they arrived at The County Ground for Day 2, and while the snow gave way to blue skies during the morning session, frigid conditions remained right until the close of play at 6pm.
Starting the day with 60 overs to bat and 124 on the board, Vasconcelos and Wakely kicked on to take the total near 150 before Vasconcelos retired not out on 71. Charlie Thurston came to the middle and announced his arrival at the crease, sending just his third ball powerfully over the point boundary for six and that maintained the momentum to retire on 51 from just 67 deliveries.
“Today’s been superb” Sadler said.
“It’s been a brilliant run out from the lads and they’ve had some really valuable time in the middle just to sharpen up those final little bits before the first game on Thursday.
“The one thing that stands out is they’ve all played with a real freedom and intent to score. They’ve all got different game plans, they’ve all got different strengths and styles which is great but they’ve all had that same desire to occupy the crease and an intent to score.”
Rob Keogh rounded off a strong all-round performance in the fixture, notching an eye-catching half century that helped propel Northamptonshire to 355/5. Joined by Gareth Berg in the closing stages of the innings, the pair added 60 to the total at nearly a run a ball, Berg finding the boundary seven times.
Northamptonshire have recorded impressive batting efforts in all three warm-up fixtures, something Sadler was pleased with but was keen to keep focus on the real task at hand on the 8th of April.
“They’ve all worked hard and had a very productive winter, they’ve all gone to a deeper level with their game and been specific with stuff they want to do. We also know it counts for nothing once the real stuff starts in a couple of days but in terms of where we are now all the batters have done really well, they’re in a good place and striking it well.”
Northamptonshire’s first match of the 2021 LV= Insurance County Championship gets underway on Thursday the 8th of April against Kent.