Head coach John Sadler to make late call on Tom Taylor inclusion for Hampshire clash

Tom Taylor has been added to the Northants squad for their Championship clash with HampshireTom Taylor has been added to the Northants squad for their Championship clash with Hampshire
Tom Taylor has been added to the Northants squad for their Championship clash with Hampshire
Head coach John Sadler and skipper Luke Procter will make a late call on whether or not to stick with a winning team for Thursday's LV= Insurance County Championship clash with Hampshire at Wantage Road.

Northants have added the fit-again Tom Taylor to the side that saw off Middesex by seven wickets last weekend, and will decide on the morning of the match if the former Leicestershire man goes into the team or not.

Taylor has yet to feature this season, but if he does come into the fray then it means resting one of the seam trio of Ben Sanderson, Jack White and Gareth Berg.

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And Sadler admits the way the season has gone so far, they all still have plenty of energy in their legs and may not need resting, especially as following the Hampshire encounter Northants don't play again until they go to Somerset on May 4.

"I will have a chat with Proccy (Luke Procter) and see what's best," said the head coach.

"It is a balance between picking our best team and keeping bowlers fresh, but we do get a week off next week so that may come into it also.

"This time last year I think we had had two full four-day games and spent a lot of time in the field, and a lot of time bowling and bowling and bowling, particularly second and third spells.

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"Whereas this year it has not been too bad, we have bowled teams out pretty quickly, but also had a bit of weather around and managed a bit of rest in between. So we’ll see."

Hampshire have also named a 12-man squad for the trip to Northampton.

They include the leading wicket-taker in division one in their ranks in Mohammad Abbas.

The right-arm pace bowler has 15 wickets to his name this campaign, including two six-wicket hauls, which is two more than the County's main man so far, Chris Tremain, with the Australian having 13 scalps so far.

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Like Northants, Hampshire have won one and lost one so far this season, beating Nottinghamshire at home on the opening weekend and then losing by nine wickets to reigning champions Surrey at the Kia Oval.

Tremain is playing the final match of his three-game stint as an overseas import.

Northants squad v Hampshire: Hassan Azad, Ricardo Vasconcelos, Sam Whiteman, Luke Procter, Rob Keogh, Josh Cobb, Lewis McManus, Gareth Berg, Chris Tremain, Ben Sanderson, Jack White, Tom Taylor

Hamsphire squad: James Vince, Mohammad Abbas, Kyle Abbott, Keith Barker, Ben Brown, Liam Dawson, James Fuller, Nick Gubbins, Ian Holland, Fletcha Middleton, Felix Organ. Tom Prest

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