McManus to miss rest of Northants' season with a broken thumb

The wicket-keeper batsman suffered the injury during the Steelbacks’ final Royal London One Day Cup fixture against Derbyshire in mid-August.

McManus was not allowed to play in last week’s defeat at Hampshire due to the terms of his season-long loan from the south coast club.

But when the squad was announced for Monday’s four-day date with Surrey at the County Ground, the club revealed the extent of the player’s injury.

The statement read: “Lewis McManus will miss the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery on a broken finger sustained against Derbyshire in the Royal London Cup.”

The player, who scored 107 against Derbyshire before suffering the break, took to Twitter, to say: “Gutted to miss the last couple of games.

“Will be supporting the lads through a strong finish to the season.”

The news means Ricardo Vasconcelos will continue to play as wicket-keeper, and bat down the order, with Emilio Gay opening alongside skipper Will Young.

Northants go into the game in fifth place in the table, while Surrey are second, having been leapfrogged by Hampshire after they trounced the County last week.

Surrey are just eight points off the top having played a game less.

They recall England international Tom Curran for the trip to Northampton, with the all-rounder not having played red ball cricket for Surrey since April, 2019!

The Londoners, who haven’t played a Championship game since beating Warwickshire in July, are captained by former England opener Rory Burns.

As a mark of respect to HRH Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away last week, both teams will wear black armbands.

There will be a minute’s silence, and the National Anthem will also be played before the 10.30am start of play on Monday.

Northants squad: Cobb, Gay, Keogh, Kerrigan, Procter, Sales, Sanderson, Taylor, Vasconcelos (wk), White, Williams, Young (c), Zaib.

Surrey squad: Burns (c), Amla, Atkinson, Blake, Clark, T Curran, Geddes, Lawes, Moriarty, Patel, Roach, Smith, Steel, Virdi, Worrall