Northants coach Ripley ready to mix it up in Bob Willis Trophy

There is likely to be an unfamiliar look to the Northants team that takes to the field for the first match of the delayed 2020 cricket season at Edgbaston on Saturday.
Emilio Gay could be in line for his first bat for Northants in the upcoming Bob Willis Trophy clash with WarwickshireEmilio Gay could be in line for his first bat for Northants in the upcoming Bob Willis Trophy clash with Warwickshire
Emilio Gay could be in line for his first bat for Northants in the upcoming Bob Willis Trophy clash with Warwickshire

The County take on Warwickshire in the opening match of the one-off Bob Willis Trophy, the first-class competition that has replaced the County Championship campaign that was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Instead of competing in division one for the first time since 2014 - that will have to wait until 2021! - Northants will instead play in the Central Group of the Willis Trophy, where they take on Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Somerset and Glamorgan.

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There are three groups being competed for, with the two group winners with the best record playing out a grand final for the silverware at Lord’s at the end of September.

Ben Curran scored a half-century in the County's warm-up game with Middlesex earlier this weekBen Curran scored a half-century in the County's warm-up game with Middlesex earlier this week
Ben Curran scored a half-century in the County's warm-up game with Middlesex earlier this week

David Ripley is determined to use the competition to give every member of his squad some game time, and thanks to a pretty extensive recruitment drive last winter, pre-pandemic of course, the County’s head coach has plenty of options at his disposal!

“I think this is probably the biggest squad we have had to pick from since the early days of perhaps the first year I took over,” said Ripley.

“The squad has grown and that’s been great, and generally it is breeding competition for places, but we will be taking a slightly different view on things this year with no second team cricket to be played.

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“You have lads who were pinned in the indoor school from November through to March, and then the season looked like it was going to be cancelled.

“You then finally get out there and you have to go through another mini pre-season, and for them then not to play any cricket doesn’t seem like an area we want to go.

“Maybe other clubs might have a different view, although I would be surprised if they did, as I would think most counties will be looking to utilise their squad and give some opportunities to players.

“It brings a real excitement to some of the cricket. There will be lads who haven’t played that much who will be playing, and then there will be some debuts as well.

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“I am sure Jack White and Brandon Glover will be two guys who will be making their debuts, and then you have Emilio Gay, who has played one game but didn’t get to bat because of the weather, so it will be good to see him in the middle.

“We are just looking forward to those things, and then there is the competitive element to it as well.”

Indeed, Ripley is as keen as anybody to see Northants walking out for that grand final at the end of the truncated summer.

“Just because we are utilising the squad doesn’t mean to say we don’t want to be in the Lord’s final,” he said.

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“It would be a great effort if we could get there while using our squad.”

Aside from Gareth Berg and Brett Hutton, who will both be ready to play within the next fortnight, Ripley has a full-strength squad to pick from the this weekend’s trip to Birmingham.

All the players spent Tuesday and Wednesday this week playing in a warm-up match against Middlesex at the County Ground, and looking ahead to Edgbaston, Ripley said: “We are looking at the T20s in considering some of our selections, in terms of whether we stagger things.

“It means some of our guys may get into the team a little bit later, and try and build up momentum ready for the T20.

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“We have an outline strategy of how we want to use this competition, and that is how we are going to go.

“We will go with 13 on Saturday, and the likelihood is we will be leaving our white ball specialists out, the likes of Richard Levi, Josh Cobb and Alex Wakely.

“We are not envisaging those lads playing in the first game, we will be involving them building up a little bit nearer to the T20s.

“By making that call, it means that people like Emilio Gay and Ricardo Vasconcelos, who is back having missed a lot of cricket last year, will be in the squad.

“Saif Zaib will be in the squad, Charlie Thurston, Ben Curran, who has got runs this week, and there are some really exciting selections there .”