Chance for Aussie batter Whiteman to sign off Northants stint in style

And the Australian will be hoping to sign off what has been a difficult season in style.

The 31-year-old arrived at Wantage Road fresh from skippering Western Australia to the Sheffield Shield title, and it was hoped he would be the backbone of the Northants batting order in 2023.

And Whiteman has shown his class in glimpses, scoring excellent centuries in drawn matches at Somerset and Middlesex.

But he has only notched one other half-century, and it's fair to say he and the club will have been hoping for more than the 586 runs he has scored at 34.47.

Head coach John Sadler accepts as much, but he has spoken highly of Whiteman's input for the club during his five-month stint.

"Sam is going to play one more game, and the he has been called back by Western Australia," confirmed Sadler. "So he'll play one more Championship match for us.

"Sam has been great this season, he is pretty quiet and goes about his business in the same way. He is a senior pro who knows what he is about.

"It probably took him a little bit of time to adjust to English conditions, and he made a couple of tweaks where he opened his stance up a little bit.

"He then got that hundred at Somerset and then another one at Merchant Taylor's (against Middlesex), and they were two fantastic innings that were high class.

"But I think he would admit himself that he's not got as many runs as he would have hoped, but as I have said before, we have played in some horrendous conditions.

"The games against Hampshire and Notts were tough, and Sam had probably never had to bat in conditions like that before.

"But he has been a good pro, he has been great for us in the group and has a great outlook on the game."

Northants go into Sunday’s must-win game against the Red Rose sitting rock bottom of the Division One table.

They are 25 points adrift of third-from-bottom Middlesex and safety, with Lancashire sitting in seventh, 53 points ahead of the County.

After the Lancashire match, Northants face trips to fourth-placed Warwickshire (Sept 10) and leaders Surrey (Sept 19), before hosting second-placed Essex in their final match of the season at Wantage Road (Sept 26).