Run-fest turns to fright night for Northants
HEADING into the evening session on day three of this match, there was a familiar sense of feeling underwhelmed at Wantage Road.
Yet again, the wicket seemed to be an absolute road and the batsmen had been filling their boots in the same way they had in the previous three County Championship matches here.
Four of them had made centuries, with Northants’ Ben Duckett at one point threatening a repeat of his amazing knock against Sussex in April before eventually falling on 189.
Essex passed the hosts’ first innings total of 444 with ease thanks to their captain Ryan ten Doeschate smashing 145 off 149 balls, while wicketkeeper James Foster racked up the runs at an even faster rate with 113 off just 95 deliveries.
The match had descended into another run-fest at a ground that had seen just two results in its last 12 matches in red-ball cricket.
But the biggest frustration was yet to come and, as so often in this country, it was borne out of the weather. In Northants’ second innings, Essex bowled superbly with New Zealander Matt Quinn looking the part on his Championship debut and Ravi Bopara maintaining his rich spell of form with the ball.
Before the hosts knew it, they’d been reduced to 51-4 ahead of the close of play and they were teetering six overs into the final day before rain cruelly denied the visitors the chance to press for victory.
Bopara, who had taken one five-wicket haul in his first 170 matches in first-class cricket but has claimed two in his last three, said: “I think we played some seriously good cricket to even get a chance to get a result out of this game.
“The pitch was pretty docile. For the amount of runs that were scored, to think we had an opportunity to get a result, it’s a little bit heart-breaking, but that’s cricket for you.
On his own bowling, he added: “The opportunity to get a bowl has helped – I think in the past our seamers have done the job on pretty helpful wickets.
“Getting the opportunity this year to have a bowl has forced me to improve as a bowler and I’ve worked hard on my bowling.”
The fact that the wicket was considered the liveliest at Northampton so far this season tells a story of how flat the track has been there in recent games.
You had to feel sorry for the spinners in particular, as they were getting no assistance – something that was felt by Northants’ Monty Panesar, as he was milked for 0-133 from his 22 overs.
He couldn’t be blamed for the position his team found themselves in on the morning of day four, as Northants’ habit of producing a poor session with the bat when least expected haunted them again.
It has cost them in the first innings of each of their three away games this year and it is something their head coach David Ripley is keen to eradicate. He said: “As has been our template, really, there’s been some very good four-day cricket from us and then a bad session that sets us back. “It depends how bad that session is, but you can play very well for four sessions and have one real stinker and the whole thing turns around. “We’re striving to be more consistent, but we have also played some good cricket. “We haven’t been devoid of chances ourselves. “There are a lot of draws and results are hard to come by so when you get a chance, you’re going to have to really try and take it.”