All about time in the middle as Northants return to action against Worcestershire

The County host Worcestershire behind closed doors over two days at Wantage Road on Thursday and Friday, before travelling to Grace Road to play Leicestershire next Monday and Tuesday.

The teams will be allowed to rotate their players when in the field, and batters who are dismissed early will also be allowed to return for a second knock.

"We are playing the games so that we get what we need, and they get what they need," said Sadler.

"We are going to bowl on Thursday, so we will make sure everybody gets their spells, and the lads get some time in the field.

"Then on Friday we will bat and will send out to bat who needs it, and if somebody gets out early we might send them back in later.

"It is a practise game, and although it is a bit about performance, the main thing is we get out of it what we need to, and I am sure Worcester will do the same.

"Then at Leicester we will bowl on Monday and then bat on the Tuesday, we just need to hope the rain stays off!"

Northants have been training outdoors at the County Ground since they returned from their pre-season trip to Cape Town in South Africa at the weekend, a trip which Sadler says was well worthwhile.

"It went great and we got out of the trip what we needed.” he said.

“We got some good practice time, good match time, and we got some good social time together as a group as well, which is really important.

"There are certainly worse places to go, so we were fortunate we were able to get out there and it was good."But it is always nice to get back, because when you get back it is nearly the business time of the season isn't it? And we are looking forward to that."

While in Cape Town, Northants took on the Netherlands, Warwickshire and Durham UCCA in friendly matches, but it was all about getting precious time on the grass after a long winter training indoors.

"Everbody chipped in, there were some good scores, good wickets and some good overs under people's belts.

"It was more about getting volume in as opposed to performance, and now we are back it is about selection looming.

"There are places up for grabs and now it's about switching to performance mode."

An extra bonus for Sadler and the squad was the fact they have been able to net outdoors on their their return to the County Ground this week.

Which wasn't something that looked very likely when the ground was covered in a couple of inches of snow just over a week ago!

"We have had our duffle coats and bobble hats on, but it has been great to get out there and the groundsmen have done a fantastic job after the snow and the rain that has been around ," said Sadler.

"We have been fortunate with the weather so far this week, and as I say the groundstaff have done a great job to allow us to have outdoor nets.

"We have had four sessions on the grass so we are certainly getting our volume in and getting up to speed."

Opening batter Emilio Gay won’t be involved in the pre-season matches as he is going to miss the start of the season after suffering a knee injury.

His place in the squad could be taken by former Leicestershire opener Hassan Azad, who has been training with the club this week, having been released by Leicestershire at the end of last summer.