Alex Russell claimed an excellent five-wicket haul as Northamptonshire 2XI wrapped up a comfortable victory against London Schools at Finchley CC.

After rain halted the start of the day, the match was reduced to 45 overs and the 2XI won the toss and elected to bowl first.

London Schools got off to a steady start, reaching a 47 first wicket partnership by the 12th over.

Alex Russell was the one to break the partnership though, as he brilliantly bowled Ewan Hughes-Rowlands for 26. In Russell’s next over, the leg spinner bowled Nabil Moughal to pick up his second wicket of the game.

Russell’s wicket taking didn’t stop there as he struck with the very next ball as Aum Raykar clipped one straight to Strydom on the off side.

London Schools tried to build a partnership after being reduced to 61/3 but quickly after Russell claimed his fourth as Keaton picked out Josh Cobb in the deep, who made no mistake with the catch.

Alex Russell then claimed the 2XI’s and his fifth thanks to quick work behind the stumps from Arush Buchake as he stumped Rajurkar.

George Taylor-Yeates started to rebuild the London Schools innings as he posted a determined 41 but he found himself bowled by Gus Miller trying to play one down the off side.

More rain meant that the game was reduced to 36 overs and London Schools finished their innings on 146/6.

The rain delays meant that the 2XI had a revised target of 170 off their 36 overs as Hassan Azad and Nico Reifer opened up for the 2XI and immediately went to work in their pursuit of the chase. The pair worked their way to 25 without loss by the sixth over but yet again the players were forced off for rain.

When the players came back out, the target was again revised for the 2XI, giving them a target of 146 from 29 overs of play.

The fifty partnership was brought up in the eleventh over and the pair continued their pursuit of the revised target. Five overs later Azad brought up his fifty from 42 deliveries, with four 4s on the way.

The 18th over saw Azad and Reifer bring up their 100 partnership in just 104 balls, leaving the 2XI needing 46 more runs from 11 overs.

Nico Reifer brought up his half century with a single into the off side in the 23rd over, hitting three 4s and two 6s on the way as the 2XI reached the 146 run target six balls later.

Hassan Azad and Nico Reifer finished on 88 and 51 respectively as the 2XI cruised to a controlling 10-wicket victory at Finchley CC.