Northants name their squad for season opener against Kent

Adam Rossington will skipper the team against Kent in the season opener, which starts at the County Ground on Thursday (11am).

The fixture is the club's first in the new format of the County Championship, which is divided into three groups.

Northants take their place in Group 3 alongside Glamorgan, Kent, Lancashire, Sussex and Yorkshire.

Sides within the group will play each other once at home and once away between now and the end of July.

The top two counties in each group at the end of the group stage will progress to Division One, with the other counties moving into Divisions Two and Three, where they will each play a further four matches.

Under current government guidelines the first fixture of the season will be played behind closed doors and spectators are asked not to attend the County Ground.

The fixture will be live-streamed in full, with commentary from Andrew Radd and BBC Sport on the club website.

Northants will not be able to call on overseas signing Wayne Parnell against Kent.

He has arrived in the UK but continues to follow Covid-19 protocols and was not available for selection.

Northants squad v Kent: Adam Rossington (c) (wk), Gareth Berg, Nathan Buck, Ben Curran, Emilio Gay, Rob Keogh, Simon Kerrigan, Ben Sanderson, Tom Taylor, Charlie Thurston, Ricardo Vasconcelos, Alex Wakely, Jack White.