New boy Hutton happy to grab his first Northants wickets

Brett Hutton took two early wickets on his Northants debut (picture: Peter Short)

The 25-year-old, who moved to the County from Nottinghamshire during the close season, helped Northants strike early against Middlesex.

The County Championship Division Two title favourites were 63 for four inside 24 overs of the season opener, with Ben Sanderson (2-30) and Hutton (2-35) impressing.

But Middlesex battled back before the close, finishing the first day on 136 for four, with Paul Stirling (40no) and John Simpson (31no) leading the revival.

For Hutton, it was still a special day.

And he said: "It was nice to get my first wicket for Northants and get that little thing off my back and just start doing what I want to be doing this season and in seasons to come.

“We bowled nicely, fielded reasonably well and took most of our chances.

"There’s a little bit of moisture and movement there, as you’d expect.

"We’ve done well to actually get on the field, given the weather around the rest of the country, so we want to make the most of it.

“With the nature of the wicket, if we get a couple of quick wickets in the morning it could easily swing in our favour, but it depends how we front up in that first half hour.”