County Championship cricket returns to the cinch County Ground for the first time since 15th June as Northamptonshire welcome Kent.
With just four points separating the visitors in second and Northamptonshire in third, this game could be crucial in the race for promotion to Division One.
Both teams picked up thrilling victories last week to further aid their promotion challenge. Northamptonshire completed a dominant 316-run win against Lancashire to pick up a first Championship win at Emirates Old Trafford since 1999.
Standout performances included a century from Ricardo Vasconcelos and a selfless 92 from George Bartlett with the bat, while Ben Sanderson, Luke Procter and Liam Guthrie both picked up key wickets throughout.
Kent won a thriller against Middlesex at Merchant Taylors’ School on the final day. Despite a late Middlesex fightback from Joe Cracknell and Tom Helm, Matt Parkinson took two wickets in two balls shortly after tea.
Match Information:
Gates at the cinch County Ground open at 10am, with play starting at 11am on each day. The toss is scheduled for 10:30am on day one.
A live stream will be available to watch on YouTube on Steelbacks TV, and you can follow all of the action with live match updates on our social media channels.
Squad news:
Head Coach Darren Lehmann has named a 16-man squad for tomorrow’s clash with Kent.
James Sales is named in the squad, despite suffering an ankle injury on Day 3 against Lancashire in the warm up.
Gus Miller is named in the squad but any potential involvement is subject to fitness. Raphy Weatherall and Stuart van der Merwe are also additions this week.
Northamptonshire squad to face Kent:
Luke Procter (c), George Bartlett, Yuzi Chahal, Liam Guthrie, Calvin Harrison, Louis Kimber, Lewis McManus (wk), Nathan McSweeney, Stuart van der Merwe, Gus Miller, James Sales, Ben Sanderson, George Scrimshaw, Ricardo Vasconcelos, Raphy Weatherall, Saif Zaib.
We spoke to Head Coach Darren Lehmann about that win against Lancashire, the challenge of Kent and taking advantage of opportunities with the threat of bad weather about.