Senior County players will not make Old Trafford trip

Northamptonshire will ring the changes tomorrow when they take on Lancashire at Old Trafford.

Defeat at the hands of Derbyshire on Monday night means they have little chance of progressing from the group stage of the Royal London One-Day Cup.

And with a four-day LV= County Championship encounter with Nottinghamshire beginning on Friday, David Ripley will not inflict a quick turnaround on some of his players and instead take the opportunity to give them a breather.

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“We hoped it would be a big match for us at Old Trafford,” the Northamptonshire head coach said.

“Had we beaten Derbyshire it would have put us in a good position to go through.

“If that was the case we would have taken our best possible side to play Lancashire.

“But we lost and that means we will be resting some of the lads so they can prepare for Notts.

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“It is a day/night game at Old Trafford which means we won’t finish until about 9.30pm, won’t leave until around 10pm and probably won’t be in our own home until two in the morning.

“With a game starting a few hours later we can let some people rest up a little.

“There will be no Andrew Hall, no James Middlebrook and no David Willey.

“Stephen Peters is struggling a bit so he won’t go and we are obviously still without Alex Wakely, Rob Newton, Olly Stone and Steven Crook.

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“It means some of the other players in our squad will get their chance.

“Mark Turner, who has come in on loan, will play so we can have a good look at him.

“And we will take young Saif Zaib and he might make his competitive debut for us.”

Not that with senior players missing, Ripley will accept coming second best to the side who currently sit at the foot of the table.

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“I still expect us to go there and win the game,” he stated.

“We went there earlier in the season and lost. We went there last season and lost.

“It is not nice to keep doing that and it would be good for us to show them what we can do.”