Sales and Zaib hit half-centuries as Northants edge ahead after Durham collapse

Sales top-scored with 69 at Wantage Road, while Zaib registered his third consecutive Championship 50 as their side – who began the match 40 points behind Durham – closed on 225 for seven, a slim advantage of 20.

That followed a startling collapse by Durham, whose last seven wickets tumbled for just 48 as they were dismissed for 205 despite David Bedingham’s 81, with leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal taking four for 36.

Former England captain Ben Stokes was the pick of the bowlers when Northants replied, returning figures of three for 40 across three accurate spells.

With overseas duo Bedingham and Mayank Agarwal firmly entrenched at the end of the first day’s play, Durham would have been eyeing a sizeable total when they resumed on 129 for three.

The pair continued to look comfortable until Ben Sanderson nipped one back to hit the top of Agarwal’s stumps and Louis Kimber’s part-time off-breaks accounted for Bedingham, trapped in front by one that pitched and turned.

Having swept Chahal to the boundary, Stokes pushed forward to the spinner’s next delivery and was bowled between bat and pad, while Colin Ackermann’s decision to take a single to mid-off backfired when he was run out by Luke Procter’s direct hit.

Calvin Harrison collected the 100th wicket of his first-class career, bowling Ollie Robinson around his legs and Chahal soon mopped up the tail, bamboozling Matthew Potts with a ball that turned sharply to hit off stump before Kasey Aldridge holed out to long-on.

Procter lasted only three balls of the Northants reply, dabbing Potts to third slip, although the in-form Ricardo Vasconcelos started well with a crisp cover boundary prior to lunch.

Deploying a seam-spin combination through most of the afternoon, Durham soon had their hosts in trouble as Harrison miscued Callum Parkinson to backward point and Stokes struck with his fourth delivery, bringing it back to hit Nathan McSweeney’s pads.

Stokes’ initial eight-over burst also brought him the wicket of Vasconcelos, who swung to leg and lost control of his bat, which went flying – and the opener had to leave the square himself next ball after feathering behind.

However, Zaib looked in control as he cover-drove and hooked Stokes for boundaries and established a solid partnership of 72 with Sales, who started slowly but gradually got on top of Durham’s attack as the pair whittled down the deficit.

Zaib reached 50 from the final ball of the afternoon session – but his return to the crease after tea was brief, adding two more runs before a top-edged reverse-sweep off Parkinson soared into the hands of slip.

Sales took on the spinners, coming down the track to pump Parkinson for six and another leg-side boundary signalled a 50 partnership with George Bartlett, who was then castled in Stokes’ second spell.

Lewis McManus dug in to help steer Nortants into the lead, but the visitors made a vital breakthrough before stumps as Sales, setting off for a straight-driven single, was sent back and left stranded by Alex Lees’ return to the wicketkeeper.

Reaction

Northants batter Saif Zaib: “Durham bowled really well, they’ve got two guys who are arguably the best bowlers in the competition.

“I feel like we played nicely – we’ve just got to keep coming back on Friday and the day after and hopefully come away with the result.

“We want to try and get the first batting point if we can and hopefully push on for another couple. We’ve got two very capable batters at the crease at the moment and hopefully Sando (Ben Sanderson) to score a few at the end.

“I knew what the wicket was going to do and we’ve got the class of Yuzi (Chahal) and Calvin (Harrison) and also people like Kimber and McSweeney – I’m actually sixth choice spinner!

The way they were bowling on that kind of wicket was very effective and they brought it back.

“James (Sales) has played really well all year, so it was nice to see him get a score and be there with him. I would like to have kicked on but unfortunately that’s just how the game goes.

“The way I got out, I’ve scored a lot of runs with that (shot), I’ll keep committing to it and hopefully it doesn’t go straight to the fielder.”

Durham batter David Bedingham: “I think the goal at the start of the year is always to reach 1,000 runs, so it was nice getting there. Obviously I prefer scoring hundreds to 80s though!

“We had two run-outs in our innings, which is not great in red-ball cricket but to Northants’ credit, I thought their spinners bowled incredibly well – Chahal and Harrison were very good for the whole innings.

“They put us under pressure and we succumbed, which is disappointing, but there’s a second innings to come and hopefully we can come up with some good plans to counter them.

“We toiled hard and to be only 20 behind with three wickets left, I think it’s still all to play for.

"Hopefully we can start well on Friday, take those three wickets quickly and start well with the bat.

On Ben Stokes’ bowling: “He was exceptional. He bowled 18 overs on quite a placid pitch for seamers and I’m pretty sure our captain Leesy wanted him off after five or six overs (of his spell) and he said ‘no’.

"I think that explains him as a person – always giving his all for the team and long may it continue.”