Lehmann believes extra squad depth will be key as Northants aim high heading into new season

Northants head coach Darren Lehmann is in a confident mood ahead of the new cricket season.

The Australian knows what it takes to produce successful cricket teams, and as he enters his second year as the top man at Wantage Road, he believes the Northants building blocks are in place.

The bulk of last season’s squad are back in the fold, but there have also been additions for all formats, with the most significant one the signing of Australia Test batter Nathan McSweeney.

Fellow Aussie Harry Conway will bolster the pace attack for the first six red ball games, all-rounder Louis Kimber has made the switch from neighbours Leicestershire and for the Blast, Aussie Chris Lynn is a Steelback once more.

There is also the return to full fitness of young fast bowler Raphy Weatherall after a year out due to a back injury and the emergence at the end of last season of batter Stuart van der Merwe, while Lehmann is also expecting an improvement in performance from the rest of the squad.

And if he gets that after the hard work the players have put in over the winter, then he is hoping 2026 could be a good year for the County - but he knows it is now down to the players to perform when it matters.

“You are always aiming for promotion, you are aiming for Finals Day, you are aiming for the finals in the One Day Cup,” said Lehmann when asked about targets for the season.

“So you are always aiming for those things and that is how you start, you wouldn’t be in coaching if you didn’t think you could get to that.

“But that is every county, and we are no different.

“We know what success looks like for us, and if we are playing the cricket that we want to play, then the success will look after itself.

“What we do know is that we have to play better under pressure, play better at certain times in the game and understand what the game dictates and needs.

“And if we learn from our mistakes from last season then we will play better.”

There were signs of progression in 2025, certainly in the Blast as the Steelbacks made a first Finals Day for nine years, but things weren’t so great in the County Championship Division Two and the Metro Bank One Day Cup.

Northants finished second bottom the four-day tournament, and then won just one of their eight 50-over matches, and although Lehmann was very unhappy with the latter, he believes the red-ball campaign was not as bad as the final league position suggests.

“The only disappointing tournament for me was the One Day Cup,” said Lehmann. “I thought that was a sub-performance from us.

“In Championship cricket, we were very good up until the break, and then at the back end, once you are out of contention, you have to look at some young kids.

“I wasn’t overly worried about the last three games, as I think we played four or five under-23s, all young kids and academy kids so we could have a look at them.

“If we had played our full strength team then we would have finished higher, there is no doubt about that, and we would have played better.

“So I am not so worried about that, which might sound silly when people look at it.

“But if you look at who we played, and the team we played, it was a younger side and I needed to see what they could bring to the table, and that gave me a great insight going into this year.

“We have now added to our squad with a couple of senior players, and a couple of players that weren’t getting opportunities, and what we now have is some depth.

“That means that going into the back end of the year, we are playing pretty much our full squad all of the time, which is good.

“The batting line-up didn’t fire together consistently enough last season, and if we can get that then we will be okay.

“If we can keep our bowlers on the park that is another issue, but we have depth and hopefully that all happens.”

The season starts with a Championship clash with Lancashire on Friday (April 3), and that is the first in a block of six red ball games ahead of the Vitality Blast, that starts on May 22.

It is a crucial chunk of the season, and if Northants are to ensure they are going to be in the mix for promotion to the top flight in September then they need to enjoy a positive start to the summer, which is something Lehmann is well aware of.

“You would love a couple of wins in that first block wouldn’t you?”, said Lehmann.

“We obviously beat Lancashire here last year, but that was our only win in the first seven, and we drew three or four and lost a couple.

“So you probably need to be competitive in all six matches, and win a couple of those, and then win one or two in the middle of the season and make your run home when we have got to be up there.

“It is weather dependent, which is always a big thing, but we played every game last year and barely had a day off.

“But I suspect there will be rain-interrupted games, and we had a couple last season where it rained when we were well on top.

“So fingers crossed, the weather goes your way, you play well, and you get the right results.”

This season is Lehmann’s second year with Northants, and he is already committed to coming back for a third season in 2027 after extending his contract.

A World Cup and Ashes winner as coach of Australia, Lehmann says he has fallen in love with Northamptonshire life, admitting: “I wouldn’t be coming back if I didn’t love it.

“The lads are great, the club’s great, I have really enjoyed my time and I love the competitions, all the three different formats.

“It is a busy season, but it is good fun and I can’t complain.”