Northants ace Zaib hoping to cap off a dream week with Championship win over Middlesex

It all started with the left-hander receiving his County cap from former head coach, and the man who gave him his senior debut, David Ripley.

He then went on to pass the 5,000-run landmark in all formats for Northants, managing that on his way to racking up a fourth first-class century of the season in the Rothesay County Championship Division Two clash with Middlesex at Wantage Road.

Zaib's 102 in the first innings saw him become the first Northants player to score four centuries in a red-ball summer since a certain Ben Duckett achieved the feat nine years ago.

With six matches still to play, he is on course to record 1,000 runs for the season and is enjoying a superb campaign.

“It's been nice, and it's an absolute honour to get awarded my county cap," said Zaib.

“I grew up seeing everyone get capped and it is something that you want.

"I’ve been here for a while now, so it's nice to see a bit of recognition for myself, but there’s still a long way to go."

The 27-year-old has developed into one of the County's most reliable performers across all formats, and he reached the four century landmark on the same day that Duckett scored a brilliant 149 to help steer England to a first Test win over India at Headingley.

The pair were at the Wantage Road together before Duckett departed for Nottinghamshire in 2018, and Zaib revealed his fellow left-hander is an inspiration.

“I learned a lot off Ben when he was here," said Zaib, who will play for Welsh Fire in The Hunrded later this summer.

"I still chat to him every now and again, and yeah, he's doing unbelievably well on the international stage, and it's great to see that."

Zaib's immediate attention though is on helping Northants in their bid for victory over Middlesex at the County Ground on Wednesday.

The County go into the final day at Wantage Road trailing their visitors by 193 runs, and Middlesex still have seven wickets in hand.

They will be aiming to quickly extend that lead before setting up a run-chase, and Zaib says he and his team-mates will then attack that target with positivity.

“Whatever total it is, we're going to try our best to go for it," said Zaib. "We'd rather lose than not go for the win.

"Boof (head coach Darren Lehmann) is all on board with that as well and I'm sure most of the lads are as well, so we'll try everything in our power to win."

But he knows that is not going to be an easy task, and he added: "The pitch is definitely breaking up a little bit more.

"I think we were hoping as a team that it would break up a little bit more, a bit earlier, get our spinners into the game a little bit more. But yeah, it is tough work for bowlers.

"I thought Zafar Gohar (who took five wickets for Middlesex) bowled really well, especially. It was quite tough against lefties, especially with a lot of rough there for the left-handers.

"So, I think he'll be important how we play him. And, yeah, I think that will be the key going into the final day."

Play is due to resume at the County Ground at 11am on Wednesday.

Quotes courtesy of Jeremy Blackmore