Zaib back on song as he hits brilliant century to put Northants on top against Gloucestershire

Zaib has struggled to find his groove this season after a stellar 2025 in which he finished leading run scorer in the country.

But he grew increasingly fluent on Friday, posting his first century of the summer with 17 fours and two sixes, timing the ball sweetly, with some powerful hitting all around the wicket.

He dominated a partnership of 261 with Nathan McSweeney who made a fine 117 (13 fours), his third century and highest score in Northants colours.

It was the highest first-class fourth wicket stand for the County against Gloucestershire, breaking the previous record set by Mushtaq Mohammad and David Steele in 1966.

Both Mushtaq and Steele were in attendance as it was also the past players day at Wantage Road.

For Gloucestershire, New Zealand international Kristian Clarke proved a handful on a memorable debut, taking two early wickets before Zaib and McSweeney booked in for the afternoon.

Clarke returned to remove McSweeney with the new ball before picking up two lbws to finish with five for 81 to offer the visitors some hope as Northants closed on 380 for seven.

Earlier Gloucestershire won the toss, Clarke striking in his first over, bowling Ricardo Vasconcelos with an inswinger.

He soon accounted for skipper Luke Procter too who nicked behind, trying to withdraw his bat.

When Calvin Harrison miscued to mid-on off Matt Taylor, Northants were rocking at 41 for three.

But McSweeney and Zaib consolidated, adding 84 runs off 102 balls before lunch to put the home side back in control.

McSweeney unfurled a glorious cover drive off Will Williams to bring up Northants’ 50 but was quickly outscored by Zaib who was driving handsomely as the hosts went into lunch in front on 125 for three.

After the break Zaib brought up a near run-a-ball 50 by upper cutting just wide of the cordon, while McSweeney drove Matt Taylor down the ground to bring up the century partnership before swivelling to pull his next ball through midwicket.

Runs kept flowing as Zaib flashed Daz Ahmed through cover and pulled high over the short boundary behind square for six.

Back for a fresh spell, an impressive Williams briefly stemmed the onslaught, but Gloucestershire had little luck on a wicket offering uneven bounce.

Several edges fell short of the slips, although runs were at least contained by a slow outfield, several well-timed shots failing to reach the ropes.

Zaib went the aerial route, flat-batting Miles Hammond and pulling Ahmed behind square, bringing up his century with a crisp straight drive off the bowler’s next delivery.

McSweeney started to accelerate, taking three boundaries off one Ahmed over, a sumptuous cover drive and a backfoot punch, before cutting behind point to register the 200 partnership.

Zaib took two boundaries off one Graeme van Buuren over but survived when Camereon Bancroft missed a straightforward chance at slip.

He cashed in when Jack Taylor bowled a head-high full toss, smacking it over cover for six, while McSweeney smashed van Buuren straight to go into tea on 96.

After the interval Zaib unfurled his favourite reverse-sweep off van Buuren before crashing through cover, but departed soon after, caught at slip off Ahmed, playing a loose drive outside-stump.

McSweeney duly reached three figures off 200 balls and while he pulled Clarke firmly with new ball in hand, his innings ended in tame fashion when the New Zealander had him caught behind down the legside.

Clarke then trapped George Bartlett and Justin Broad both lbw soon afterwards.

James Sales though looked in good touch, getting off the mark with a cover boundary off Ahmed before punching Clarke through cover and powerfully striking Williams down the ground to finish unbeaten on 42.

Reaction

Northants batter Saif Zaib: "It's an absolute honour to represent a great club like Northampton, so hopefully many more to go. It's been a nice day.

“It's not been an easy season for me so far, but it was nice to score a few runs. I feel like I left quite a bit out there, which is a bit frustrating, but hopefully it kickstarts my season.

“I was just trying to be as positive as I could, and if there was a bad ball, just trying to put it away. It's actually quite a nice pitch, and they did bowl very well in periods as well. So, for myself and Nathan, it was just about soaking up as much pressure as we could to try to put it back on them.

“Nathan's been in unbelievable form for us this year and today showed his class. It's nice batting with someone like that. He’s quite a calm figure at the crease.

“Gloucestershire did bowl well in periods, and I thought their overseas [Clarke] bowled quite nicely. He had a period there where he was pretty unplayable, so there’s plenty in the wicket for us as bowlers as well. We've been bowling well as a unit, so hopefully we can capitalise on that.

“Obviously cricket is a tough sport. You have a lot more failures than you do successes, so it's just a matter of backing myself, and today it came off and hopefully it does for many more innings.”

Gloucestershire bowler Kristian Clarke: “I enjoyed that. I've been here since the first of June, so it's been a bit of a build-up. So, yeah, just been excited to get out there and have a crack. It was a long slog of a day, but the boys enjoyed it.

“The first 15, 16 overs, first hour, looked promising, a bit of nip, bit of swing, but then the ball got a bit softer and, the seam got a bit softer, and those boys batted nice, put on that partnership, It was massive partnership and we probably didn't bowl our best at moments, but then to bring it back in that third session was good.

”The boys said at tea, when the second new ball comes, that's when we put in a big shift, because it seems like it's a new ball kind of wicket. There's a bit more nip on when that ball’s hard, so the boys did well to fight back there.

“It's been a cool day, building up using the Dukes and getting the feel for them. It's a bit different than the Kookaburras back home, so definitely a bit more on offer, but you’ve still got to control that, as I found out at times. It was cool to get the results but still got a bit of work to do on Saturday.

“I had a bit of notice [about joining Gloucestershire]. I was over in Ireland, helping out with the Test match for the Black Caps, and then I guess being so close made it easy for them to get me on a plane over to Bristol. So, I had about two weeks' build up, so a fair amount of time to get my head around it.

“The way they were going at one point in the day, to have them seven for 380, is a pretty good effort to finish on, and if we can bowl them out for somewhere around 400, I think we almost take a bit of momentum going into the batting innings.”

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