Zaib says Northants 'pretty happy' with their work as they earn slim advantage over Yorkshire

Batsman Saif Zaib says Northants are 'pretty happy' with the position they find themselves in going into day three of their LV= Insurance County Championship clash with Yorkshire.
Saif Zaib had a good day with the batSaif Zaib had a good day with the bat
Saif Zaib had a good day with the bat

Another day which saw ball have the edge over the bat ended with Yorkshire on 43 for three in their second innings, a lead of only 15.

Northants had resumed day on 31 without loss and looked to be cruising at 76 for one with skipper Ricardo Vasconcelos hitting 47, but then a rush of wickets saw them stumble to 81 for five.

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Zaib and Tom Taylor set about rescuing things, hitting 55 and 50 respectively, with Northants eventually bowled out for 234.

They then snared three quick wickets before the close, including that of in-form opener Adam Lyth, and go into day three with a slim advantage.

“We’re pretty happy with that day," said Zaib.

“Obviously we had a good day in bowling them out yesterday, then, getting those three wickets at the end tonight was pretty big for us.

“We lost a few quick wickets (before lunch), which wasn’t ideal, but we managed to push through it and pass their score and I thought we did well in the end.”

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Zaib's half-century followed on from a similar innings of 41 under pressure against Glamorgan last weekend, and he said: “It gives you a bit of confidence scoring runs in last week’s match.

"I’ve been feeling pretty good over the last few weeks, and I’m happy to get some more runs.”

Although Yorkshire are not where they want to be, all-rounder Jordan Thompson, who claimed three Northants wickets, says they are still very much in with a shout of notching up a third win of the season.

"The pitch and overhead conditions were helping the bowlers," he said. "It did quite a bit off the pitch.

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“Northants bowled well yesterday, but we’d get ourselves in a position to gain momentum and then lose a couple of quick wickets, and that has been a bit of a trend over the last couple of weeks.

“We keep having to fight back, which is a bit frustrating. But we’ll continue to do that here.

“You saw what happened at Sussex last week when we defended 230 to win the game.

"Anything more than 200, hopefully more towards 300, we feel like we can defend.”