McManus backing 'varied attack' to come up trumps for Northants at Lancashire

McManus hit an excellent 95 from 207 balls to help Northants post a huge 496 all out in the Rothesay County Championship Division Two clash, carrying on the excellent work started by James Sales (92) and centurion Saif Zaib (116), with Calvin Harrison adding 56 down the order.

Lancashire were then reduced to 139 for four from 45.2 overs in reply, leg-spinner Harrison claiming the wicket of nightwatchman Anderson Phillips with what turned out to be the final ball of the day.

Earlier, seamer Justin Broad had struck twice to remove the dangerous Michael Jones and Josh Bohannon cheaply, while fast bowler Raphy Weatherall claimed the key wicket of Australian run machine Marcus Harris, smartly caught at mid-wicket by Broad. It all means Northants go into day three in a very strong position and sensing a rare victory at Old Trafford, which would be the perfect response to their limp opening round defeat at home to Kent last weekend.

“It was nice to get a few runs and more importantly nice for us as a team to bounce back and put a big total together, which was really pleasing," said McManus.

"We had contributions throughout the line-up and hopefully it's now just full focus on trying to take 20 wickets on this pitch."

As well as the wicket-takers, Northants have also utlilised left-arm seamer Liam Guthrie and right-armer Luke Procter, with left-arm spinner Zaib also an option.

“We’ve got a nice varied attack,” said McManus.

"It's something which we've spoken about, trying to cover all bases and on pitches like this where you might have to think a little bit outside the box to get wickets, that variation certainly helps.

“So, we feel like we can turn to a few guys to create chances, which is exciting.”

McManus will have been frustrated to fall just short of what would have been the third first-class century of his career, but he was just happy to contribute.

“It's always nice to get those milestones (a century)," admitted the former Hampshire man.

"But I think by just staying calm after last week and sticking to what we've been doing really well in pre-season came good in this game so far.

“For us, it's just about keep stacking good sessions and good days together and really stay on top of teams if we get in positions where we can do that."

Lancashire's England spinner Tom Hartley admitted it was been a grind for his side, but he felt they have stuck to their task well, saying: "It was a tough day.

"It was not ideal losing that last wicket at the end but I thought we battled hard. We just had to graft that out really. We got the wickets this morning in the end, but that's a healthy total for them.

“The pitch wasn't doing a whole lot that first day. The ball didn't really spin though apart from a bit out of the rough towards the end.

"We felt like we could have bowled a bit better at times, but in general, I thought we were good."

Play is due to resume in Manchester at 11am on Sunday.

Quotes courtesy of Ken Grimes