Sales says Northants in 'good position' to claim final day victory against Gloucestershire
James Sales believes Northants are ‘in a good position’ to push for victory on the final day of their Rothesay County Championship Division Two clash with Gloucestershire at Wantage Road.
The County will resume their second innings on Monday morning with a strong lead of 248 runs, with six wickets in hand.
Sales is 49 not out overnight, with first innings centurion Saif Zaib uneaten on 22, and the pair will be looking to push on positively to try and set a target for Gloucestershire to chase.
The visitors opened up the game at tea on Sunday with their first innings declaration on 379 for eight, still trailing by 90, with Australian Test all-rounder Cameron Green making 118 not out.
Northants were then in a bit of trouble at 57 for three, a lead of just 147, but Sales, Aadi Sharma (24 off 27 balls) and Zaib regained control for the home side.
It will now all be about setting a challenging total for Gloucestershire, one that tempts them to go for the win but allows Northants to also attack with the ball.
Leg-spinner Calvin Harrison claimed four for 94 in Gloucester’s first innings, and we have a big part to play on a wearing wicket.
“We feel we’re in a good position, and hopefully the footmarks do start to break up even more and get a bit bigger, said Sales.
“We’re going to try set a total and do as much as we can to win the game.”
On the start to the County’s second innings, he said: “If it had gone the way we would have liked it to, we probably would have gone a bit more aggressively, but unfortunately, we lost a few wickets at the start of the session.
“But we're going to come go out in the morning, and going to do as much as we can to put a good score on the total that we think's good enough.
“We will then give ourselves as much opportunity to bowl them out.”
Green also believes he and his Gloucestershire team-mates are in a strong position ahead of the final day.
“The pitch has stayed pretty similar” said the Aussie. “There's been certainly enough play and misses to get 20 wickets.
“Spin may come into it, it’s starting to show some small signs. So, we’ll wait and see.
“We’ll be pushing for wickets early, but we’re confident in terms of a chase, 100 per cent.
“The wicket isn't deteriorating quite as fast as other wickers can do. So, yeah, always back yourself to score the runs. I think we had a tricky chase last week against Kent and got it done.
“I back our guys to do it again.”
Play is due to start at 11am on Monday.
Quotes courtesy of Jeremy Blackmore