A valuable century from Ben Curran kept Northamptonshire in the reckoning on Day 2 of their Second XI clash with Worcestershire.
Another overcast day at The County Ground saw the Second XI finish their innings still trailing by 75 runs, despite an impressive innings from Curran.
The morning session proved fruitful for Northamptonshire as Buck took Gibbon LBW early on, before Gowler splattered Dickenson’s stumps and Russell trapped Stanley to end the innings.
Northamptonshire’s response got off to a mixed start with Cronie caught behind attempting to leave, before Curran scored a flurry of boundaries to take the Second XI into lunch 39-1.
Ben Curran then took the afternoon session as his own, sharing five different partners leading into tea. Josh Cobb provided some support, including a towering six before being caught soon after.
The wickets kept falling during the afternoon, bringing Buck into the middle who batted well with real fluency. Scoring 26 from only 24 balls, Buck formed the most successful partnership of the day with Curran – amounting 43 runs together – before he was caught behind just before the break, taking Northamptonshire into tea 145-6.
The Second XI fought hard through the lower order in the final session, with both Brandon Glover and Simon Kerrigan forming solid partnerships with Curran. This gave time for Curran to reach an impressive century off 150 balls, before miscuing a reverse sweep to end his innings on 109.
Gowler was bowled by Roshan Balaji soon after, Northamptonshire all out for 225.
Worcestershire survived the remaining 11 overs without loss, Fell and Cornall adding a further 36 runs to take Worcestershire into Day 3 leading by 111 runs.
Worcestershire 2XI 300 (White 4/27, Russel 2/32) & 36/0
Northamptonshire 2XI 225 (Curran 109, Buck 26)