Lehmann happy to see Northants players get a breather after ‘intense’ start to 2025 campaign
Head coach Darren Lehmann believes his Northants players deserve their current break from competing after an 'intense' block of cricket to start the 2025 summer.
After three Rothesay County Championship Division Two matches in the opening three weeks of the season, and with two of those having been on the road, Northants are without a game this weekend.
They sit out the round of fixtures that start on Friday, and that is something Lehmann feels could be beneficial for his squad after they had the better of a rain-affected draw with Derbyshire at Derby over the Easter weekend.
That match came off the back of another road trip draw against Lancashire at Old Trafford, with the team's only home date so far being the season opener against Kent in the first week in April.
A quirk in the fixture lists sees Northants away from home again in their next game at Leicestershire on Friday, May 2, before they finally return to Wantage Road for a quick rematch with Lancashire on May 9.
They then wrap up the opening block of seven four-day games with a trip to Cardiff to play Glamorgan on May 16 and then a home date with Gloucestershire on May 23.
Aside from the opening defeat at the hands of Kent which saw them crumble in little more than two days, Lehmann has been happy with how his team has performed, and he told BBC Radio Northampton: "I thought we were excellent at Old Trafford, and excellent at Derby.
"Now we have to back that up against a quality side in Leicestershire.
"That is the challenge, and three away games is always difficult as well and then we have a couple of home games to finish off that block.
"In terms of the first block, we have been on the road since going to South Africa really, so it has been an intense time, but the lads have been excellent.
"They are a bit tired and beaten up now, but they'll get a week off and away we go next week."
Despite not yet winning a game, Northants are still reasonably well placed in the County Championship Division Two thanks to getting the better of their two drawn games to date.
The are down in sixth place, above only Glamorgan and Gloucestershire, but they are only 20 points adrift of leaders Leicestershire, who they play next week.
Kent, in second place, are 18 points ahead of the County.
Once the opening block of Championship matches are completed, the Steelbacks will begin their Vitality Blast campaign with a trip to Headingley to play Yorkshire on Friday, May 30.