Skipper Luke Procter in race against time to be fit for Northants

The County host Nottinghamshire at Wantage Road on Thursday (start 11am), and the captain's chances of playing are rated as '50-50' by head coach John Sadler, even though he has been named in a 14-man squad.

Procter injured a shoulder during training ahead of last week's trip to Somerset, and he failed to make the starting 11 at Taunton.

It had been hoped the former Lancashire man would recover in time to lead the team against Notts, but he is still struggling and a decision on his fitness will be left until the last possible moment.

"Proccy is 50-50 to be honest," said Sadler on Wednesday afternoon. "If there is anybody in the squad who is a bit more able to fight through some pain then it is is him.

"The shoulder injury he has had, I don't think it is anything major, but it's not quite settled down as much as we would have hoped.

"At worst we were hoping he would be okay to play as a batsman, but he is even still finding it tough doing that. So we will leave it as late as we can in the morning before making the call."

Procter is not the only injury concern for Northants.

Opening batter Hassan Azad is also in the squad but is struggling with the finger he damaged while batting at Somerset, and seamer Ben Sanderson has been left out due to 'a niggle'.

Gareth Berg has been recalled the squad along with batter Emilio Gay, who has yet to feature this summer following his knee operation in pre-season.

If Procter does miss out, then Australian Sam Whiteman is again set to captain Northants, having also stood in at Somerset.

Captain of a Western Australia side that has won the Sheffield Shield for the past two seasons, Whiteman is a pretty handy person to have to take over, and he led by example.

The left-hander scored a superb unbeaten 130 on the final day to guide the County to a deserved draw, and Sadler says he will have no hesitation in asking Whiteman to captain again if necessary.

"Sam was the right man for the job, although I did talk to Keysy (Rob Keogh) and Sando (Ben Sanderson) as well, because they were also candidates to do it.

"But we felt that for Sando, it is quite hard to captain when you are bowling, especially if you're not done lots of it, and Keysy was already our senior batter and senior spinner down at Somerset.

"So we felt it was probably a bit too much to put on his shoulders.

"When I asked Sam he said he would be honoured to do it, he jumped at the chance and he did a fantastic job.

"He was very calm, very smart, understands cricket, understands how to manage people and to read a game.

"He was great, so if Proccy isn't fit then I am sure he will do it again."

Northants squad v Nottinghamshire: Luke Procter, Hassan Azad, Gareth Berg, Jordan Buckingham, Emilio Gay, Harry Gouldstone, Rob Keogh, Gus Miller, James Sales, Tom Taylor, Ricardo Vasconcelos, Jack White, Sam Whiteman, Saif Zaib.