Levi loving Kleinveldt's heroics for Northants against Nottinghamshire

And Levi revealed one of the Nottinghamshire players admitted Kleinveldt looked like he ‘had the ball on a piece of string’ as he took his total number of wickets in the match to 11.

Kleinveldt currently has match figures of 11 for 74 after he added two second innings scalps to his nine in the Notts first innings.

The South African star has put Northants in a commanding position as they now lead their promotion rivals by 280 runs heading into the third day of the Specsavers County Championship Division Two clash.

If the County can wrap things up during the next two days, they will close the 29-point gap to second-placed Nottinghamshire, who are currently 33 for two.

And Kleinveldt’s incredible performance will be what inspired them as he and Levi, who racked up a fantastic 115 from 104 balls in Northants’ second innings 270 for nine, stole the show at the County Ground.

“We showed a bit of intent with the bat and even though they kept taking wickets in stages we just kept playing positively and it worked for us,” Levi said.

“We got through the opening spell and then tried to counter-attack and were more positive against the change bowlers.

“I’m just glad to be scoring runs, it’s been an up and down season.

“I’m always told I can’t play first-class cricket but I seem to be scoring runs pretty well and I don’t mind how I do that.

“But it’s definitely Rory Kleinveldt’s match. One of their boys said he had the ball on a piece of string and it was great to watch that from slip.”