Keogh admits Steelbacks' performance 'not good enough' as One Day Cup campaign ends in defeat

Northants looked to be in good shape to end a run of three straight Group B defeats when they posted a huge 340 for five in their 50 overs in Cardiff.

Ricardo Vasconcelos hit 106 from 114 balls and Keogh 100 from just 71 deliveries, while there was also 88 from 75 balls for opener Sam Whiteman.

But it still wasn't enough as Glamorgan got home with five wickets and 14 balls to spare, with Sam Northeast hitting 100, Colin Ingram 69, Eddie Byrom 50 and 19-year-old Alex Horton an unbeaten 44.

The Steelbacks bowlers were thumped to all parts of Sophia Gardens, with Jack White's one for 35 from eight overs the standout performance.

The defeat means Northants have ended their One Day Cup campaign with four straight defeats, finishing sixth in the Group B table, six points off the top three and qualification for the knockout stages.

It is a massive disappointment for John Sadler and his players, who had targeted the 50-over competition as a serious chance to win the club's first silverware since 2016.

But instead they have failed to even get past the group stage, just as they did in the Vitality Blast earlier in the summer, and now have just their final four LV= Insurance County Championship Division One matches to look forward to next month.

The County are currently cut adrift and rock bottom of the Championship table, and staring relegation in the face.

“It is disappointing to finish without qualifying in this competition, it was something we spoke about at the start and we tried to play some positive cricket and try and qualify and go all the way," said Keogh.

"We felt we had a strong squad and the players to do that, but it just didn't work out that way.

“We decided to bat first because it was a used pitch, it did get better throughout the day, the drizzle made it better for us to bat on and then when the sun came out it took all the pace out of it and it was tough to bowl on at the end."

On the batting performance, he added: “We said as a batting group to take away that fear of failure.

"We have felt in games that the wickets column has been a problem for us and we could never really kick on, but in this game we didn't have that issue, we were only two down and felt we could play with more freedom and take high risk options.

"We saw two centuries and an 88 so it was nice in that respect for some batters to get some time in the middle and take that on to the block of Championship games, but overall it's not good enough.

“They had some experienced guys up the top, Sam played very well, and it was tough bowling to him and Colin, we didn't know where we were going to get a wicket from and at one point it looked like they were going to finish it in 40 overs.

"We got some wickets and brought it back, but then fair play to Horton – he came out and played his shots and took the game away really at a stage when we thought we might be able to pull it off.”

Northants are now without a game until Sunday, September 3 when they host Lancashire in a four-day game at the County Ground.

They then travel to Warwickshire (Sept 10) and Surrey (Sept 17) before ending the campaign with a home game againsy Essex (Sept 26).