Demoralising defeat sours Peters’ mood

Stephen Peters admitted to being in a downbeat mood following Northamptonshire’s latest LV= County Championship defeat.
Northants captain Stephen Peters didn't have much that was positive to offer after the defeat to YorkshireNorthants captain Stephen Peters didn't have much that was positive to offer after the defeat to Yorkshire
Northants captain Stephen Peters didn't have much that was positive to offer after the defeat to Yorkshire

The County, who resumed the final day on 66-3, were skittled for a paltry 160 as Yorkshire claimed a comprehensive 271-run victory.

That makes it five reverses in a row for Peters’ side and it leaves them rooted to the foot of the Division One standings and the captain had this to say in the aftermath.

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“I’m not particularly enjoying having to come out and give the same excuses each week,” he said.

“The dressing room is always disappointed when we lose and this is a bitter pill to swallow having gone so far on the first day to producing a match-winning position.

“To then come out on the end of a comprehensive defeat is pretty demoralising.”

As to why their dire run of form continued, Peters pointed to a cocktail of factors.

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He added: “We’re not being disciplined enough with the bat, every team we’ve played against this year has batted 130, 140 overs and we’re batting for 60 or 70 and that isn’t good enough.

“We’re not wearing teams down in the field for long enough and ourselves, we’re doing a lot of overs in the field and subsequently we’ve got some tired bodies out there.

“When you’ve field ed 150 overs and are strolling out to bat again and you’ve got guys who’ve had their feet up for two days, you put it all together and that’s the combination of things that are going wrong at the moment.”

As was the case when Lancashire visited a few weeks ago, the County failed to make the most of a first innings advantage and Peters knows this was a golden opportunity that went to waste.

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“Having bowled so well in the first innings and won the toss in useful conditions, which was good, we took an opportunity which we haven’t done a few times this year and we bowled a side out cheaply,” he said.

“We’d have liked to have got a bigger lead, albeit a 115-run lead is a good lead and that was our opportunity but that went out of the window in the next couple of hours.”