In-form Zaib leads the way to keep Northants in the hunt against Middlesex

Despite Luke Procter’s knock of 62, the home side were under pressure at 132 for four in reply to Middlesex’s 413 all out when Zaib arrived at the crease, but the left-hander struck an unbeaten 83 to guide them to 308 for five at stumps.

Spinner Zafar Gohar prised out four of the County’s top five before Zaib and Lewis McManus, who finished 55 not out, guided their side to a position of parity with an unbroken partnership of 111.

Middlesex had earlier posted 413, with overnight centurion Joe Cracknell dismissed for 112 as left-arm seamer Liam Guthrie registered career-best figures of seven for 94.

Beginning the day just three runs short of a fourth batting bonus point, Middlesex quickly secured that when Toby Roland-Jones hooked Procter to the boundary – and a fifth even looked within the realm of possibility.

Those hopes were dashed when Calvin Harrison pouched an outstanding one-handed catch at point, leaping to his right to cut off Cracknell’s robust drive and Lloyd Pope’s maiden Championship wicket in the next over castled Tom Helm to end the visitors’ innings.

Northants started well in reply, with Procter dispatching both Roland-Jones and Helm to the fence as he and Ricardo Vasconcelos – who looked scratchy at the outset – built an opening stand of 69.

The visitors tried a range of tactics without success, including the deployment of a heavily leg-side field for Ryan Higgins that included four men clustered around midwicket at one stage.

It was Gohar who eventually stifled Northants’ progress, switching ends prior to lunch and immediately tempting Vasconcelos to sweep him straight into the hands of deep square leg.

Surprisingly promoted to three in the batting order, Harrison looked lively as he thumped Helm over midwicket for six, but Middlesex’s spinners soon established control and captured three further wickets during the afternoon.

Harrison was caught behind off an inside edge, playing back to Gohar, while Luke Hollman struck with his fourth delivery, deceiving James Sales with flight and hitting him on the toe to secure a leg before decision.

Procter, who completed his fifth half-century of the campaign, proved harder to dislodge but the captain was neatly snapped up at short leg off Gohar to leave Northants in some difficulty.

Displaying a tendency to play the spinners late, New Zealnder Tim Robinson began their fightback in tandem with Zaib, though a dreadful mix-up between the pair should have seen the former run out but for Leus du Plooy’s fumble in the field.

Robinson, signed on a short-term deal at Wantage Road in place of Matt Breetzke, looked on course to mark his debut with a half-century, advancing to 43 before he was harshly given out leg before attempting to sweep Gohar.

However, Zaib maintained his side’s momentum, striking the ball cleanly on both sides of the wicket and passing 5,000 runs across all formats for Northants en route to his half-century from 87 balls.

McManus weighed in with a string of attacking strokes, cutting Gohar for two to post his fourth 50 of the season and take the partnership beyond three figures shortly before the close.

And Robinson believes he and his new team-mates are in a strong position at the halfway point.

“The way that Lew (McManus) came out and batted in that last session showed a little bit more intent and made scoring a bit easier,” said the 23-year-old.

“I think we’re in a really good position, hopefully we can bat a bit longer on day three and try and push ourselves a bit further in this game.

“When I was batting out there I felt it was difficult to score off the shorter balls, they were holding in the wicket quite a lot but he (Zafar Gohar) held down an end really well.

“It might break up the next couple of days and we’ll see a bit more purchase but we’ll have to wait and see."

On making his County Championship debut, Robinson added: “It’s a bucket list item for cricketers around the world to play in. County cricket is always something that’s been on my agenda.

“Going out to bat, I was certainly nervous and wanted to make a good impression on all the people at Northants, but I loved it and I’m looking forward to having another crack.”

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