Northants make three squad changes for Lancashire trip

Luke Procter has recovered from a side strain and is in the Northants squad for their trip to Lancashire this week

And head coach David Ripley has been forced into taking five players out of the current second team clash with Derbyshire at Wantage Road to head to Old Trafford.

The County have been forced into making changes by a back injury to batsman Charlie Thurston, while Alex Wakely has had to drop out due to personal reasons.

Seamer Jack White is the other player named in the 13 to take on Kent that misses out.

Saif Zaib has been called into the Northants squad for the trip to Manchester to take on Lancashire

Coming into the squad are overseas signing Wayne Parnell, who has completed his Covif-19 quarantine after arriving in the UK, fit-again all-rounder Luke Procter and Saif Zaib, fresh from smashing a superb 140 on the opening day of the second team's match at the County Ground.

Also pulled out of the clash against Derbyshire IIs are left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan and batsman Emilio Gay who will also be on a high after his innings of 189 in that game.

Former Lancashire man Kerrigan will be hopeful of playing against his old team-mates, and will be boosted by the fact he got a decent bowl in against Derbyshire IIs on Wednesday, taking one for 34 from 21 overs.

Northants go into the Championship Group 3 game off the back of a high-scoring opening draw against Kent, from which they claimed 15 points.

Ricardo Vasconcelos and Rob Keogh played starring roles as they both hit big centuries to secure maximum batting bonus points, and Keogh was delighted to get his season off to a flying start.

"It was nice to start the season with a hundred and get some time in the middle," said the 29-year-old.

"Personally for me it’s just about confidence and getting back into the flow of things.

“Last year was quite tough for me personally away from cricket and I started to take that into my cricket which is never ideal.

"I didn’t go as well as I would have liked and found things quite tough on and off the field, so to leave that behind and score some runs and bat for a long time in the first game is pleasing just to convince myself and know I can still do it.

“For the team it’s good to see we can score 400-plus and get maximum batting points, the team’s happy and we take that confidence into the next game.”

Northamptonshire squad v Lancashire, Old Trafford, April 15-18: Gareth Berg, Nathan Buck, Ben Curran, Emilio Gay, Rob Keogh, Simon Kerrigan, Wayne Parnell, Luke Procter, Adam Rossington, Ben Sanderson, Tom Taylor, Ricardo Vasconcelos, Saif Zaib