Northants boss Ripley: We should have won against Middlesex

For the first time in their history, the County suffered a defeat after enforcing the follow-on as Middlesex made their way home after earning an incredible 31-run win.

Northants looked to be cruising to their victory target of 216 after bowling their opponents out for 374 just three balls into the morning session.

The County were 94 for one at one stage but were eventually bowled out for 187 to hand Middlesex a memorable win.

“We had seen off the new ball but we gifted some wickets away and the belief then builds for Middlesex, the pressure built on us and it became very edgy," Ripley said.

“There were no demons in the pitch, batting was at it’s easiest today and we’ve really got to win that.

“There’s a way of winning games and finding a way over the line, we were doing it last season but lost it this year.

"We’ve played some pretty good cricket over four days and guttingly lost.”

Northants now sit second bottom of division two, 14 points above Glamorgan.

Meanwhile, Middlesex move up to fifth, leaving their vice-captain Sam Robson in high spirits.

“It’s incredible the way we fought back, especially following-on," Robson said.

"We were pretty ordinary the first couple of days and to come back and win is just an unbelievable effort."