Sadler so proud of Northants players after they secure draw at Lancashire

Lancashire moved to 544 for seven before the declaration was applied on the final morning, with the home side having built a formidable 202-run lead.

But Northants dug in and they were 213 for five when the players shook hands at the close.

"I’m very proud of the lads today," Sadler said.

"Players showed some real fighting qualities, for example, Luke Procter batting like that under pressure with the ball spitting like that out of the rough on an up and down pitch. Fight is his middle name and he showed it in abundance today.

"But also Emilio Gay, who had to work so hard for his runs in both innings, and Sam Whiteman, who soaked up a lot of of pressure and took a real big chunk out of the game.

"And then there was James Sales at the end, who looked very calm and doesn’t get fazed by many things.

"So today has been a good day but in our debrief we stressed that we didn’t get enough runs in our first innings.

"If we’d batted better on that second morning, we’d have got 400 or 450 and we wouldn’t have put ourselves under pressure today.

"But Jack White was superb with the ball and Luke bowled the best he’s bowled this season.

"The learning for some of the younger lads, though, is that we have to identify times in the game when we can attack and times when we have to sit in and control the scoreboard."

Lancashire skipper Keaton Jennings said: "It’s been a frustrating week.

"We bowled a side out on a fairly docile wicket on day one, then went at five and a bit per over with three guys getting hundreds and today we pushed the game to where we thought we could win it.

"I don’t feel like we could have done any more.

"In that middle session we had balls going over guys’ shoulders, hitting guys on the head, and just going straight down.

"I feel like the quality of cricket we have played this week has been exceptional. I can’t ask any more of the boys.

"Every single one of the lads have put up their hand in some periods of play and made an impact.

"It was fantastic to watch a group of lads play high quality cricket over the last few days and put pressure on the opposition.

"The work from both Jack Morley and Tom Hartley was top drawer. The expectation level can be on you as a young spinner to go in and bowl a side out on a used surface.

"They bowled a really aggressive line, bowled nice and wide to the left handers and they were really fantastic.

"They held their length even when the ball wasn’t doing as much on day one, and their scoring rate at around two and a half per over, and they went about their business on what could have been a really tough week for them was absolutely great."