Bears feel force from Luke but manage to share spoils
LUKE Procter posted a superb 144, his highest first-class score, as Northamptonshire batted out a draw with Warwickshire on the final day of their LV= Insurance County Championship match at Wantage Road.
Procter and Ryan Rickleton, who also scored a century, shared a record third-wicket stand for Northants against the Bears of 226 in 51 overs.
It was Procter’s third championship ton of the season, while South African international Rickleton’s 103 came while making his debut in county cricket.
Their stand followed a dramatic start to the day. Simon Kerrigan mopped up Warwickshire’s tail with two wickets in 10 deliveries to give the hosts a 46-run advantage on first innings. They then lost both openers inside four overs to Olly Hannondalby and Nathan Mcandrew to offer the Bears a glimmer of hope.
From there, though, Procter and Rickleton booked in for the afternoon to put any chance of an upset out of the equation. In total, Procter hit 19 fours and three sixes in a four-hour stay at the crease (204 balls).
Rickleton had an early scare when he edged Mcandrew just in front of second slip. But from there he and Procter looked to be positive throughout the morning session.
Procter was in a belligerent mood, pulling disdainfully off both Mcandrew and Hannon-dalby and driving sweetly through the covers.
He reached his half-century soon after lunch and unfurled some serene drives and cut shots as he got back into his work. Jacob Bethell, playing only his third first-class game for Warwickshire, obtained plenty of turn and bounce and posed questions for the Northamptonshire batters. However, he was taken out of the attack when Procter took advantage of a long hop and a full toss and dispatched both for six.
Racing through the nineties, Procter struck Matt Lamb over deep midwicket for another maximum before running three to reach his ton off 126 balls.
Rickleton also began in aggressive fashion after lunch, taking five boundaries off Henry Brookes’ first two overs. He went past 50 with a sumptuous drive down the ground and clubbed Lamb for four more in the same direction.
He reached his century with two streaky shots off the outside edge before pulling a short ball from Lamb into the hands of deep midwicket. He
We’re missing Olly (Stone), the skill of Woakesy (Chris Woakes) and Liam (Norwell), or you want a proper mystery spinner. Mark Robinson
had faced 167 deliveries and struck 18 boundaries and one maximum.
Rob Keogh joined Procter with the score 236 for three and the pair safely negotiated the remaining overs before tea. After the interval, the Bears turned to their part-time bowlers, including the rarely-seen medium pace of Michael Burgess, who claimed his maiden first-class wicket when Keogh chased a wide one and edged to Craig Miles, who was standing in as wicketkeeper.
Bears’ head coach Mark Robinson, reflecting on why it has been hard to get positive results generally around the country, said: “I think if you’ve got express pace, you’ve got a chance of opening the game up.
“From our point of view, we’re missing Olly (Stone), the skill of Woakesy (Chris Woakes) and Liam (Norwell), who’s not quite that pace, but has a point of difference, or you want a proper mystery spinner, and there’s not many of those around.
“So, there’s a lot of dry weather, there’s been a drying wind and this wicket is quite dry and they were hoping it might turn.’’