Kleinveldt encouraged as new-look Northants bowling attack hits the ground running

With Jack White having departed for Yorkshire, and Ben Sanderson sidelined with injury, the seam bowling baton was passed to new-signings Liam Guthrie and Dom Leech, along with young fast bowler Raphy Weatherall.

And the boys did good.

Weatherall grabbed six wickets in the match, and Guthrie and Leech three apiece, as Kent were rolled over for 231 and 171, with excellent support coming from Saif Zaib, Justin Broad and skipper Luke Procter.

The game may have ended in a 145-run defeat, with the batters failing to match their bowlers' impressive start, but Kleinveldt was at least pleased that, with the ball, the team made its mark.

Weatherall was playing his first competitive match since suffering a back injury last August, and although Kleinveldt knows the club is going to have to tread carefully with the 20-year-old's fitness, he was excited by his performance against Kent.

“Raphy worked really hard this winter, there were a few technical issues that he needed to iron out, but he's still a young man," said the South African.

"You know, his body's not fully developed yet, so we have to kind of look after him a little bit going forward as well.

"He probably won't be able to play every single game, but, yeah, he's coming on nicely. His progression is going in a good curve, upward curve. So, yeah, long may that continue."

Guthrie has joined Northants on a three-year deal after making the switch from South Australia, and he enjoyed a dream start as he produced a peach of a delivery to bowl England opener Zak Crawley on the opening day.

He bowled well after that as well, and Kleinvedlt was encouraged by what he saw from the bowler, who turned 28 on Wednesday.

“Liam brings something different to our attack," said the bowling coach. "Obviously, he's left armer that swings it and bowls good pace, so we can use him in different ways.

"He's got the skill to take the ball away from the right hander as well, so he's been a great addition to our bowling attack. And yeah, I look forward to seeing how he operates through the summer."

Leech was already familiar to Northants supporters after he joined on loan at the back end of last season ahead of his permanent move from Yorkshire in the winter.

The 24-year-old right-armer took the new ball in the first innings, and although he struggled initially, Kleinveldt was pleased with how he recovered from that.

“Dom struggled a bit in his first spell but came back so beautifully for the rest of the game," he said.

"You know, he could easily have got down on himself and then kind of disappeared out of the game because we had five seamers as well.

"But whenever we asked him to come back, he did a great job for us. He ran in and bowled with good energy, good pace, and long may it continue through the summer."

Quotes courtesy of Jeremy Blackmore