Northants bring back Bracewell to boost promotion bid

The County face three key games as they look to earn a top-three finish in Specsavers County Championship Division Two.

David Ripley's side are currently occupying the third and final promotion place, sitting five points clear of fourth-placed Glamorgan.

And Bracewell's return - he played for the County in the Championship last year - will be a big help for Northants as he will be available for all of their remaining matches.

However, head coach Ripley admits the Kiwi quick wasn't his first target.

“Initially we’d spoken with (West Indies international) Kemar Roach to add some more variety and a bit of express pace to our attack, but once that fell down we were keen to get someone of high all-round quality," Ripley said.

"Being able to have Doug around for those three games is something we couldn’t really resist when we got a whiff he was interested in filling that void for us."

Bracewell brings the experience of 125 first-class games with him, including 27 Test matches for New Zealand.

He’s claimed 376 wickets and is approaching 4,000 runs in first-class cricket.

And Bracewell says he's looking forward to coming back to the County Ground.

“I got the buzz last week from Rips and I’m really excited to come back and hopefully help the lads get promoted to the top division.” said Bracewell.

“I’m familiar with the bunch of the lads that are here and I really enjoyed my time here last year even though it was only three or four games.

"It always helps being in a familiar team with a little taste last year and I’m ready to hit the ground running.”

Northants travel to Leicestershire in a fixture that starts on Tuesday before hosting Durham from September 16 and squaring up to Gloucestershire in Bristol from September 23.

And red-ball skipper Adam Rossington said: “I think Doug’s a great signing for us for the last three games and our promotion push.

"He brings high quality skill with both bat and ball which we’ve seen from him before in a Northants shirt.”