Northants fight back after Adam Lyth century gets Yorkshire off to perfect start

Head coach John Sadler has outlined the reasons for Northants opting to bowl first against Yorkshire in their Vitality County Championship Division Two clash at the County Ground.

Former England opener Adam Lyth (109 from 205 balls) scored the 35th first-class century of his career on his 200th appearance for the White Rose as the visitors initially made their way to 202 for one, with skipper Shan Masood hitting 60.

Northants then did fight back as Yorkshire lost six wickets for 79 runs, but by the close they were in pretty good shape at 312 for seven, a total they would have been delighted with when they were asked to bat after losing the toss.

It is the second home game in a row that Northants have won the toss and asked the visitors to bat at Wantage Road, having done the same in the defeat to Gloucestershire a fortnight ago, and Sadler explained why they did the same again.

“We felt that the best way of getting in front of the game was to stick them in, to bowl," said the head coach.

"We've left 13mm of grass on it, live grass to encourage some pace and carry like we have done pretty much all year.

"And again, we just didn't quite get the rewards.

"On another day they could quite easily have been two or three down early , and then we’re right on the front foot. But credit to those guys. I thought Lythy played beautifully.

“Win the toss and bowl first, stick them in on a green pitch again, we probably expected a little bit more than that, but that’s the game.

“I think we're 2-1 down in sessions and fair play to them.

"I thought Lyth and Finlay Bean (18 from 72 balls) at the start were very good and obviously Shan Masood, that’s three high quality players.

"They won the first two sessions, but we had a good fight back and we're right in this game."

Lyth backed up Sadler's comments, as he said: "This hundred has got to be right up there.

"Having been put in on a quite a green wicket doing plenty early on. I don't know how me and Beanie got through that first hour with the amount of seam movement which was on show.

"So, yeah, I thought we both played magnificently well for that first hour and then unfortunately Beanie got out just before lunch.

"But on the whole, it's a very, very good day. Obviously, we lost a few wickets in clusters, a couple of bad shots and things like that, but I thought they bowled really, really well to be fair, and on another day, we could have been all out for 200."

Skipper Luke Procter was the pick of the Northants attack, taking three for 63 from 21 overs, while Siddharth Kaul claimed two for 81 from 16.

Jack White returned to the side and bowled neatly as he conceded just 38 runs from his 19 overs, while Ben Sanderson also endured a fruitless day, while conceding just 34 runs from 20 overs.

There was a wicket apiece for Justin Broad and Rob Keogh, and Sadler believes his team are still in a good place in the game, providing they bat well in their first innings.

“Ideally the sun stays out on Saturday and we make hay," said the head coach.

"Whatever we bowl them out for in the end, we've got to bat past them and then put them under some pressure day three.

"It would have been nice to have had them all out on Friday at some point or certainly earlier wickets, but that’s what happens."

With the weather forecast good for Saturday, play will resume at the County Ground at 11am.