Northamptonshire 194 (Wood 4-52, Hutton 3-52) and 270 (Levi 115, Newton 53; Wood 4-31, Hutton 3-74) beat Nottinghamshire 151 (Kleinveldt 9-65) and 189 (Kleinveldt 4-33, Gleeson 3-52) by 124 runs
And so it will all go down to the last week of the season. So much was made clear late on a September earlymorning taken from May when Richard Gleeson plucked out Brett Hutton’s off stump and sentout it toppling in the instructions of Pitsford Water. With both promo and the Second Division title at stake, 3 counties should desport themselves like the worthy forces in Shakespeare’s history plays:
Northants bestir yourselves! Leicester waitsfor.
The guys of Durham will to Worcester go.
And Sussex Downs needto Notts accommodate.
But it may be essential for Nottinghamshire’s cricketers to bind up a coupleof surprise injuries before they journey to Hove. Northants’ Ben Duckett might have damaged his finger and Alex Wakely copped a uncomfortable blow to his mush in this match however Nottinghamshire have lost their last 2 four-day videogames and will start their videogame versus Sussex 6 points behind the leaders, Worcestershire, and just 13 ahead of their conquerors in this videogame.
Northamptonshire, for their part, will make the really short journey to Grace Road in blithe stateofmind. They have won 8 of their 13 Championship matches this season and understand they needto win a ninth to put pressure on the counties above them. But their absolutely wasworthyof 124-run defeat of Nottinghamshire revealed them to be in exceptional kind Marrying professionalism with a deep and apparent satisfaction of their work, Northamptonshire’s cricketers invested the last 2 hours of their home season taking 7 wickets for 82 runs. Then they had a laugh about it all, belted out the group tune at a louder volume than head coach David Ripley had ever heard and settled into a liquid afternoon.