Skipper Procter left downbeat as Northants slump to Somerset defeat

That was the honest response from skipper Luke Procter after Northants' nine-wicket hammering at the hands of Somerset on Friday.

The County slumped to their sixth LV= Championship Division One loss of a miserable season, with the match all over before lunch on the third day at Wantage Road.

Northants resumed on 151 for six on Friday morning, still needing 20 runs to make Somerset bat again after a disastrous day two that saw them lose 16 wickets for 331.

And although Procter's unbeaten 87 from 128 balls ensured the visitors did at least have to get their pads on as the County made 224 all out, Somerset made light work of their target of 53 to win as they eased to 56 for one in just 10.4 overs.

The defeat leaves Northants rock bottom of the Championship table and looking doomed to relegation, even though there are still five matches left to play this season.

And Procter accepted that the performance of him and his team wasn't acceptable, either with the ball or the bat, with the tone being set on day one when Somerset posted 351 all out after being put in on a tricky surface.

“We just haven't been good enough," said Procter.

"I feel Somerset got 100, 150 runs more than they should have, and we got 50 to 100 runs less than we then we should have.

"I think they played really well and to be honest we didn't bowl that great. So well played to them."

The one bright spot for the County on Friday was the fact Procter made his highest score of the season to date, going on the offensive as his partners fell away at the other end

But the former Lancashire man wasn't taking much comfort from that.

“There wasn't really much pressure on me," he said. "With the situation, it was just play ball, see ball, hit ball."

Northants return to action next Tuesday when they travel to Old Trafford to take on Lancashire.

On current form that looks a daunting prospect, but Procter says and his team-mates simply have to get on with it, especially as they are facing a run-in that includes two matches against Lancashire, and others against title-chasing trio Surrey, Essex and Warwickshire.

And he is also hoping there may be a bit of batting reinforcement to call on as well, with the club having been strongly linked with Indian opener Prithvi Shaw over the past few weeks.

“We've hopefully got an overseas player coming, so hopefully he’ll will fit in nicely," said Procter.

"The physio has to give our bowlers a rub and get them on the park again.

“We’ve got a tough run-in to the Championship. Somerset are obviously a good team and they've shown that this game. We've got the top end of the table coming up.

So, we've just got to give it our all.”