The left-arm spinner will play the first Test at Galle where he needs one wicket to reach 100 at the venue

Andrew Fidel Fernando22-Oct-20181:35

A tribute to the most-successful left-arm bowler in Test history

Rangana Herath, the most-successful left-arm bowler in Test history, will retire after the first Test in Galle, having told the selectors that he is reluctant to play through an entire three-Test series.Galle is a sentimental venue for Herath – not only did he make his Test debut there in 1999, he also needs only one more wicket to join Muttiah Muralitharan in having taken 100 wickets at the ground. It was at this venue that Herath also reignited his career at the age of 31, taking five wickets in a Test against Pakistan in 2009, after having been suddenly called up to the Test side while he was playing league cricket in England.Herath, 40, has not played a complete three-Test series since January 2017, having since left two India series early due to injury, before playing no more than one of the three Tests in West Indies in June this year. Herath has had to manage knee injuries for several years now; the strain of carrying Sri Lanka’s spin attack since the retirement of Muralitharan is understood to have caught up to him.His retirement will leave a substantial hole in the Sri Lanka side, with offspinner Dilruwan Perera likeliest to replace him as leader of the spin attack, for the remainder of the England series at least. Sri Lanka also have three other spinners in the squad: all-sorts offspinner Akila Dananjaya, left-arm wristspinner Lakshan Sandakan, and left-arm orthodox bowler Malinda Pushpakumara. Of the remaining spinners only Dilruwan has played more than 10 Tests, however.A beloved figure across the island, Herath’s retirement will also bring to an end one of the most remarkable careers in modern cricket. Not only is he the 10th most successful Test bowler in history with 430 wickets, all but 36 of those dismissals came after he had turned 31, with Herath having struggled to maintain a place in the Test side in the first decade of his career. No bowler has also taken as many as his 230 wickets after turning 35. If he takes five wickets in his final Test, he could move up to seventh on the all-time list, passing Richard Hadlee (431 wickets), Stuart Broad (433) and Kapil Dev (434).Herath is also the last active Test cricketer to have made his debut in the 1990s.The Galle Test begins on November 6.

The Rajshahi game between North Zone and East Zone was a high-scoring draw with centuries from North Zone batsmen Naeem Islam, Jahurul Islam and Farhad Hossain

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Nov-2018Shuvagata Hom and Abu Hider shared nine wickets between them in the fourth innings as Central Zone beat South Zone by 77 runs in Sylhet. After the two sides were in a near deadlock after their respective first innings, South Zone were bowled out for 188 runs while chasing 266 on the last day.In Central Zone’s first innings, Abdul Mazid made an unbeaten 141, most of it during his 10th-wicket stand with Shahidul Islam who made 58 off 75 with eight fours and two sixes. Mazid struck 13 fours and five sixes to carry them to 282.Fazle Mahmud led South Zone’s reply with 94 off 194 balls that had 13 fours. He was involved in a 77-run second-wicket stand with opener Shahriar Nafees (71). Veteran left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain took 4 for 53 as South Zone conceded a one-run lead.Liton Das’ 84 led Central Zone in the second innings as they made 264. He struck 12 fours in his brisk 95-ball knock. Offspinner Mahedi Hasan took five wickets, and despite Nafees’ second half-century in the game, South Zone were bowled out in 49.5 overs. Shuvagata took 5 for 53 while Hider finished with 4 for 44.The Rajshahi game between North Zone and East Zone was a high-scoring draw with centuries from North Zone batsmen Naeem Islam, Jahurul Islam and Farhad Hossain.Batting first, North Zone scored 445 with Naeem making 137 with 16 fours and a six. Jahurul scored his 15th first-class hundred – 104 off 163 balls with 15 fours. Nineteen-year-old medium-pacer Hasan Mahmud took three late wickets in his 4 for 44.Yasir Ali (94), Farhad Reza (85), Mohammad Saifuddin (64), Rony Talukdar (54) and Enamul Haque jnr (51) struck fifties as East Zone reached 443 in reply.In the 45.3 overs remaining in the game, Farhad crammed in an unbeaten 103 off 128 balls with 12 fours and a six. Sabbir Rahman and Junaid Siddique scored quickfire fifties as North Zone ended on 270 for 4 with a run rate of almost six per over.

Faf du Plessis’ Paarl Rocks stuttered after opting to bat as three-wicket hauls from Shaun von Berg and Lutho Sipamla bowled them out for 121

The Report by Liam Brickhill05-Dec-2018This match was billed as a showdown between Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers, who were at Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool together in this very city, playing alongside each other there before moving on to be team-mates at Northerns, Titans and, of course, South Africa. In the end, it was de Villiers’ Tshwane Spartans who triumphed in a see-sawing, low-scoring thriller, chasing down Paarl Rocks’ 121 in the final
over.Spartans came into this match wanting not just a win, but a bonus point in order to keep their Mzansi Super League campaign on track. The end result doesn’t rule them out, but they are still in the fifth position on the points table and will need other results to go their way (as well as winning all of their remaining matches) in order to get to the playoffs.Spartans had only won two matches in this competition before the game, but they had also squandered some strong positions, and that was very nearly the case in this match. Needing to score at a run a ball to win, Spartans would also have had the potential bonus point – on offer for a victory in 16 overs or less – on their minds as they started their chase.All seemed to be going to plan when they had reached 63 for 1 midway through the 10th over, Andrea Agathangelou powering the chase with a flurry of boundaries to make up for Dean Elgar’s slow start at the top of the order. But when he was given out caught behind off the glove – somewhat contentiously – aiming a paddle scoop over short fine leg, Spartans started to slide.On a pitch that had plenty of cracks to encourage the spinners, Tabraiz Shamsi rocked the Spartans with two quick wickets in his third over, including that of de Villiers, bowled through the gate by one that gripped and spun in to him. Shamsi concluded by pinning a reverse-sweeping Eoin Morgan lbw for 4 as Spartans slipped to 82 for 5.While wickets were falling, the runs also dried up, and Spartans couldn’t find the boundary between the 11th and 16th overs. That put paid to any hopes they might have had of still securing a bonus point, but it also brought what should have been a straightforward chase to a nerve-jangling conclusion.Tony de Zorzi flat-batted David Wiese over cover to break the shackles, and then brought up the 100 in the 17th over with a shovel over Paterson’s head. With two overs to go, Spartans needed 15, and their job could have quickly become even harder when de Zorzi missed an attempted paddle at a Dwayne Bravo slower ball to be struck on the pad, but was very luckily not given out even though the ball would have cannoned
into leg stump.Bravo had his revenge three balls later, de Zorzi mistiming a heave at a slow bouncer to be easily caught in the deep, and Spartans went into the final over needing 11. Robbie Frylinck, who had nudged his way to 11 off 18, biffed the first ball over long-on for six, and the second straight down the ground for four more to draw level, before turning the third to fine leg for the winning run.While Frylinck was their hero with the bat, Lutho Sipamla was Spartans’ spearhead with the ball, operating as a one-over strike bowler and repeatedly returning to the attack to break through whenever Paarl threatened to lay a platform.First, he had a flat-footed Aiden Markram caught behind to snap the opening stand in his first over. With du Plessis scoring at a strike rate of 200 in the Powerplay, Sipamla returned to have him caught at cover by de Villiers for 38. After Dwayne Bravo hit three sixes off legspinners Jeevan Mendis and Shaun von Berg, Sipamla returned once more to remove him via a sliced drive, and he completed his bowling
work for the day by conceding just two runs in his final over, the 17th of the innings, to finish with figures of 3 for 19.Though they leaked runs early when du Plessis and Bravo were on the counter-attack, Spartans’ spin attack struck back superbly to deal with the lower order. Von Berg had Vaughn van Jaarsveld caught at long-on at the start of his spell, and then returned to repeat the treatment against Mangaliso Mosehle. In the same over, von Berg combined with Rory Kleinveldt to get rid of Fortuin via the outside edge, Kleinveldt
holding a stunning reflex catch at slip as Rocks slipped to 100 for 8.Paterson struck a couple of lusty blows, but Mendis returned to bowl the 18th over and brought the innings to a swift end. His googly caught the inside-edge of Tshepo Moreki’s bat, wicketkeeper Gihahn Cloete holding the catch between his legs, and Paterson mistimed a slog two balls later as Rocks were bowled out with more than two overs to spare. Had they scored just a few more, they might have won this game, but Rocks’ defeat mean they now have a slim lead of three points over Spartans, and the play-off race is still wide open.

He will fly back to Sydney for a check-up but is expected to be back in Bangladesh sometime next week

Mohammad Isam10-Jan-2019Steven Smith will miss Comilla Victorians’ next two matches in the BPL, after a previous elbow injury flared up in the last couple of days. He will fly back to Sydney for a check-up but is expected to be back in Bangladesh sometime next week.”He is quite positive about returning, possibly during the Sylhet phase of the competition,” Victorians media manager Sohanuzzaman Khan told ESPNcricinfo. “He will undergo an MRI in Australia, which isn’t available in Bangladesh, and will inform us about it.”Their next two matches in Dhaka are against Rajshahi Kings and Chittagong Vikings on January 11 and 13, while their Sylhet phase begins on January 15.Smith, who led the Victorians to one win in the two outings, has so far made 16 and 0 in his two innings against Sylhet Sixers and Rangpur Riders. The former Australia captain’s participation in the BPL made news after the organisers had to change the drafting rules to accommodate him.Meanwhile, Khulna Titans have replaced Ali Khan with Junaid Khan after the US fast bowler was ruled out due to a hamstring injury he suffered during his only match in the BPL.

An elbow injury will keep David Warner out of Sylhet Sixers’ BPL campaign from January 21, according to Cricket Australia

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Jan-2019An elbow injury will keep David Warner out of Sylhet Sixers’ BPL campaign from January 21, according to Cricket Australia. Warner will return to Australia where he is likely to need six weeks to recover from the injury.”David has reported some pain in his right elbow. He will return to Australia on January 21 to be assessed, but is expected to play in the remaining BPL matches until his return. We will have a clearer understanding of the extent of the injury once he has been assessed,” a CA spokesperson said.Warner, who is the Sixers captain, will play two more matches for them, on January 18 and 19, before flying back home which will make him miss their last five league games. It will be a big blow for Sixers as Warner has been their second-highest run-scorer so far and they are placed second from bottom on the points table. Against defending champions Rangpur Riders on Wednesday night, Warner had also batted right-handed for three deliveries during his 36-ball 61 against Chris Gayle, hitting him for 6, 4 and 4.Warner follows Steven Smith back to Australia after the Comilla Victorians captain was also ruled out due to an elbow injury. Unlike Smith, whose international return may be delayed because of his elbow surgery, Warner could still be on track to represent Australia as soon as his ban for ball-tampering finishes on March 28. Australia will take on Pakistan around that time in a one-day series which will potentially clash with the IPL, which will begin on March 23.

Glenn Maxwell had to quickly adjust to challenging conditions and produced an impressive half-century but it looked as though victory was slipping away

Varun Shetty in Visakhapatnam25-Feb-20193:01

Maxwell was very clear about his plans – Bumrah

Australia went from a feeling of “can’t believe we’ve stuffed this up” to utter relief during the closing stages of their win against India with Glenn Maxwell stressing the importance of holding their nerve to pinch a close win at the start of an away tour.Maxwell had been part of an 84-run third-wicket stand that had put Australia within 38 runs of winning the first T20I, before a combination of tight bowling and nervous batting put the visitors under tremendous pressure leaving Pat Cummins and Jhye Richardson to scramble 14 off the last over.”A lot of the times when you come over here, or when you’re on overseas trips and you get close games, you lose them so often. The home crowd can get behind the home team and you can lose. It can just put your momentum in a different way and the days you’re stuck in the hotel become longer than they are,” Maxwell said. “To win a game like this – by the way we got ourselves in trouble by the last over, we probably should have lost and if it wasn’t for Pat Cummins and Jhye Richardson pulling something out of the hat.”I did mention to Finchy – if anyone could go out there, face their first ball in the last over and get us 14, it’s probably Pat Cummins. He can do anything. He does it quite regularly. I think I remember him in UAE a few years ago. Think he came out and hit a first ball six. We only needed one to win and he hit it in the air. He got the job done tonight, but for him to keep a cool head, hit a gap on the off side against a guy who hits three out of six yorkers is just real good batting. And Jhye Richardson as well, at the end. For a young player to do that, I’m sure he’d have loved the opportunity to bat with Pat at the end. You see that little cuddle at the end. It was beautiful.”ALSO READ: Nathan Coulter-Nile and Glenn Maxwell make the difference in low-scoring thrillerAustralia endured a tough 2018 with their only series win with the white-ball coming early in the year after the Ashes, during the Trans-Tasman T20 tri-series in February. Following that, with the fallout of the ball-tampering scandal in March, they have suffered loses against England, Pakistan, South Africa and India.”It can just bring the whole group together. It’s been a hard eight or nine months of limited-overs cricket for us, and to have a result like this first game on tour is great for our confidence and something we can hopefully ride and gain momentum,” Maxwell said. “Winning momentum is great but losing momentum, as we’ve found out is pretty hard to turn around. Hopefully we can start off our World Cup preparations on a good foot.”Glenn Maxwell’s ultra-aggressive half-century put Australia on course•Getty Images

Maxwell had a crucial role in setting up the win, top-scoring across both teams with a measured 43-ball 56. But those numbers belie the situation he’d walked into. Marcus Stoinis was run out trying to steal a single that was his call, and – yet again – Aaron Finch failed to negotiate an incoming ball. Those wickets off consecutive deliveries and a red-hot Jasprit Bumrah at the top of his mark were the prelude as he walked out. Maxwell had some simple advice to himself.”Don’t go back! After seeing a bunch of balls keep low, [that was] probably my first thought. I just tried to get forward and stay as low as I could and try and cover my stumps. I think I played and missed three times the first four or five balls. It took a bit of getting used to.”On a two-paced track, Maxwell had to guard against any habits picked up during a lengthy season on bouncier surfaces at home. The focus, he said, was on creating a swinging arc rather than staying still and punching through the line. This was quickly on display in the fourth over against Umesh Yadav, where Maxwell skipped either side of the line to pick up two boundaries over mid-off and one down at fine leg.His innings would have only one other boundary shot where he had to expend effort – a slogged six against the turn to Mayank Markande – while most others were grateful acceptances of Yuzvendra Chahal’s largesse.But perhaps the most impressive part of it all, more so than the restraint, was that it was an innings constructed, in many ways, through smarts obtained by gauging how Australia’s bowlers pulled things back in the middle overs of India’s innings. The debate around Maxwell’s role in Australian cricket has been a regular topic in the last year, but since being implored by Steven Smith to “train smarter” he has shone in T20 recent won the Australian T20I player of the year award.For now, however, he said he has neither had a chat with Justin Langer about his batting positions in ODIs, nor given too much thought about a World Cup spot.”I have no idea if I’m going to be in that World Cup squad or what number I’m going to bat, so I suppose it just comes down to opportunity – if I can keep making most of opportunities like tonight,” he said. “It would have been nice to finish it off, but I chose that Chahal [over] as my time to go tonight and I still back that as the right decision. I found Krunal and Bumrah were very hard to get away. We decided that the two leggies were our best opportunities to score.”If I can turn those sorts of innings into not-out, 75-ish, and be consistent that way, I think I can probably go a long way in penciling my name for the World Cup and hopefully continue that job for the rest of this year.”

Dawid Malan lead the way with 95 as Middlesex’s 366 for 8 proved too much for the home side to overhaul

ECB Reporters Network19-Apr-2019Middlesex opened their Royal London One-day Cup campaign with an exciting 38-run victory over Essex at Chelmsford. After posting 366 for 8 in their 50 overs, they bowled their opponents out for 328.Defeat left Varun Chopra with the dubious distinction of being on the losing side after scoring his second century of the week in the competition. He followed up his 111 against Glamorgan 48 hours earlier with a superb 127 from as many deliveries before he was caught on the midwicket boundary by Eoin Morgan attacking Toby Roland-Jones.Chopra’s innings contained two sixes and 14 fours and his removal from the scene in the 38th over with the total on 256 proved the turning point, Essex losing their last seven wickets for 72 runs.With Tom Westley, Chopra shared in a second wicket stand of 158 in 22 overs after Alastair Cook had been caught behind by John Simpson off Tim Murtagh for only 11. Westley made 77 from 59 balls with the help of two sixes and seven fours before he fell to a Nathan Sowter return catch.Middlesex’s innings, after they had been put in, owed much to Dawid Malan. The opener, without taking undue risks, stroked the ball fluently around the field while gathering 11 fours in his 95 made from 102 balls. With his century beckoning, it needed a fine throw by Peter Siddle at cover to remove him with a direct hit.John Simpson, Morgan and Steve Eskinazi all scored better than a run-a-ball before being dismissed in the 20s but it was Nick Gubbins and George Scott who gave the Middlesex innings momentum in the later overs.Gubbins struck seven fours in making 56 in 57 balls while Scott thrashed five sixes and three fours from only 30 deliveries before becoming on of Siddle’s three victims at a cost of 71 from 10 overs.It was not a match Ravi Bopara will want to remember. He conceded 59 while sending down half-a-dozen overs and made just 20 before edging Roland-Jones to wicket-keeper Simpson, who was standing up to the paceman.Following Chopra’s dismissal and that of Bopara in the same over, Essex were always struggling to keep up with the required rate despite the efforts of Ryan ten Doeschate. The Essex captain made 39 from 19 balls, his departure providing the excellent Sowter with his fifth wicket when he was stumped.Sowter’s teasing legspin brought him a personal best of 6 for 62 from 9.2 overs and was just reward for a disciplined performance.Robbie White, on a two-month loan from Middlesex to help Essex overcome a wicket-keeping crisis, underlined his promise with four catches and a stumping to go with the five catches he took in victory against Glamorgan earlier in the week. But his efforts were not enough to spare Essex from defeat after Middlesex finished one run short of their highest 50-over score.

Duminy will continue to play T20s for South Africa and in international leagues, including Mzansi Super League

Liam Brickhill05-May-2019JP Duminy has retired from domestic cricket, Cape Cobras coach Ashwell Prince confirmed. Duminy, however, will continue to play T20 cricket for South Africa and in international leagues, including the Mzansi Super League. Duminy, 35, had announced in March that he will retire from ODIs after the 2019 World Cup.Duminy has not played first-class cricket for the Cobras for three years, but had been part of Cobras’ List A campaigns, up to and including his participation in the Momentum One-Day Cup this season. Having spent much of the summer on the sidelines, recovering from surgery on his injured right shoulder, Duminy returned to competitive cricket with the Cobras and was part of the squad that reached both the domestic One-Day and CSA T20 Challenge semi-finals.Having played for provincial B and age-group sides, Duminy made his first-class debut with the senior Western Province side as a 17-year-old in February 2002, joining a team that included Herschelle Gibbs, Gary Kirsten, Jonathan Trott and Paul Adams, and sharing in a 43-run stand with Kirsten in his debut innings.His first List A match for Western Province came the following season, in November of the same year. The teenage Duminy top-scored with 78 made at No. 4 in a 62-run win over Namibia in what was then called the Standard Bank Cup. He quickly established himself in the senior side, and was for several years a stalwart of the Cape Cobras side after Cricket South Africa adopted the franchise system in the 2004-05 season.In 108 first-class matches, Duminy scored 6,774 runs, including 20 hundreds and two doubles, with his top score of 260 not out coming in his final first-class game for the Cobras at Boland Park just over three years ago. He has also scored 7,408 runs in 269 List A games at an average of 38.78.While his rehabilitation and conditioning work on his right shoulder meant that Duminy could not be part of the early stages of Cobras’ CSA T20 Challenge campaign, he returned to play in their last three matches, his last game for the Cobras being the semi-final defeat to Warriors in East London on Wednesday.

Bangladesh coach reflects on his attempts to give younger players greater responsibility after a year in the job

Mohammad Isam in Taunton13-Jun-2019A year on from joining as Bangladesh’s head coach, Steve Rhodes has made quiet contributions to the team’s progress. He has now overseen 15 wins in 25 ODIs, as well as a Test series win over West Indies. Now well into their World Cup campaign, Bangladesh are a team rated as one of the more dangerous sides in the tournament.The BCB chose Rhodes after Paul Farbrace, Andy Flower, Tom Moody and a host of other coaches had said no to the Bangladesh job between November 2017 and May 2018. Rhodes had a tough mandate to not just follow up on Chandika Hathurusingha’s success, but also to chaperone the side through a World Cup in his home country.Bangladesh have made progress on the back of consistency from their top five players – Shakib Al Hasan, Mashrafe Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim – but in the World Cup’s lead-up, the refreshing factor has been the performance of someone like Soumya Sarkar who has looked in good form.Rhodes said that in the past 12 months, he has tried to give Bangladesh’s newer crop of players like Soumya, who made his debut in 2014, more liberty, along with responsibilities so that they develop the strength of character to take decisions for themselves. He said that Soumya, Mehidy Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman and Mohammad Saifuddin had earned their places in the playing XI through not just performance, but improved consistency.”It is my plan as a coach to try and give these guys some responsibilities on the field and in training,” Rhodes told ESPNcricinfo. “So that they can make some decisions for themselves and grow and learn. It is a little bit different to the way it has been run, but I think that’s the way we get the younger players performing. Everyone then says it is a better squad.”Soumya is finding his feet. Liton [Das] is in good form, although he is not playing. Sabbir [Rahman] with that hundred in New Zealand, and [Mehidy Hasan] Miraz has been bowling in the last two or three years. Nobody mentions [Mustafizur Rahman] Fizz, and Saifuddin has come through. So I do think we are starting to get a little bit more depth.”Rhodes said that some of these players had improved enough to ensure that Bangladesh’s squad has a bit more depth than before.Their World Cup campaign so far has seen them beat South Africa, go close against New Zealand but then fizzle out against England. They would have also expected to beat Sri Lanka if not for the washout in Bristol, while they have beaten West Indies, their next opponent, quite regularly in the past 12 months. Rhodes said that Bangladesh should consider themselves as a major competitor against bigger teams.”I think if you look at all the teams in this competition, we have a right to be on those fields competing against some of these big teams. But we are still well short of the depth and quality of some of these teams as well. But I’d say that we do have some wholehearted, trying cricketers. We also have some great ability. Shakib has been absolutely amazing. We are starting to get a little bit more depth in the players that, you might say, are less experienced.”At the time of Rhodes took over in June last year, Bangladesh were going through a bit of a confidence crisis, following heavy losses in South Africa and at home against Sri Lanka, as well as getting blanked by Afghanistan in a T20 series. The confidence, at least in ODIs, was regained when they beat West Indies 2-1 away, before getting one back at them in the Test series at home in November.Rhodes was also expected to deal with BCB chief Nazmul Hassan regularly and quite directly, and so far those exchanges have hardly made the news – which is a good thing. There is however a lot left for Rhodes to do, when it comes to the Test side that was battered by New Zealand earlier this year, as well as a better plan for the T20 side.Seen as a positive presence in the dressing room, Rhodes has understood how and where not to coach certain cricketers, and areas where he has to put his foot down. Albeit quietly.

Northants overcame a top-order wobble to build on their 127-run lead on first innings

ECB Reporters Network09-Jul-2019Rob Keogh ensured Northamptonshire will enter the final day against Lancashire with a chance to press for victory at Wantage Road. Keogh made 74 from a tricky position to help Northants close day three on 210 for 6 in their second innings with a lead of 341.Keogh’s half-century, just his second of the season, was a vital innings after Northants slumped to 14 for 3 as they looked to build on a first-innings lead of 127. But Keogh, after a typically jittery start, settled well to flick and drive with good purpose.He struck seven boundaries in passing fifty in 97 balls and was helping his side make serene progress after tea before being run out, called through for a single by Adam Rossington that Keogh was hesitant to accept after nudging Stephen Parry to the right of short-midwicket. Haseeb Hameed dived to his right to field, throw at the non-striker’s end and Parry had the bails off before Keogh’s dive arrived.The dismissal stalled Northants, who with Keogh and Rossington had added 54 in 8.3 overs. Rossington was intent on scoring quickly and pulled Richard Gleeson over deep square for six in reaching 33 from 30 balls before losing his off stump to a beauty from Parry that gripped past his outside edge.Luke Procter and Brett Hutton made far more sedate progress to the close but swelled the lead with the help of a seven – Hutton’s edge to third man for three followed four overthrows.It left Northants pondering an overnight declaration – which would give them use of a second new ball if needed late on the final day.Initially, Lancashire mounted a fightback after lunch taking three wickets at the start of the Northants second innings inside five overs. Graham Onions and Gleeson tore in with the new ball. Onions swung one into the left-handed Ricardo Vasconcelos and nipped one back to the right-handed Richard Levi to win to lbws before Temba Bavuma drove Gleeson to point.Lancashire sensed a way back into the game but with Saqib Mahmood not taking the field, the change bowling posed a significantly less threat and Keogh set out making a smart recovery with Rob Newton, sharing a calming stand of 96 for the fourth wicket before Newton fell for 48 after tea, edging a cut at Gleeson to wicketkeeper Dane Vilas.Aside from the wobble, it was a fine day for Northamptonshire who, after a frustrating first hour, dismantled the Lancashire lower order, taking 5 for 25 with the second new ball. Alex Davies and Steven Croft extended their fifth-wicket partnership to 135 and Davies went past his previous first-class best of 140 but, to the final ball of the 80th over, miscued a pull against Keogh’s offspin and was held at short midwicket by Temba Bavuma for 147.An end was opened and Northants sensed an opportunity with a new ball in their hands. Steven Croft quickly fell, pinned lbw on the back foot by Ben Sanderson for a season’s best 78 before Hutton took the middle and off stumps of Parry out of the ground.Hutton struck again, having Mahmood caught at first slip for just 1 before Sanderson nipped one back to take an inside edge from Onions who made just 4. Gleeson then drove Hutton to provide Rossington with a second catch of the morning to hand Northants a 127-run lead and control of the match.