Northants' overseas signings get in form ahead of their County Ground stints

Shaw's Mumbai were up against Vidarbha in the final of Indian cricket's domestic four-day competition, with the latter including Karun Nair in their line-up.

Nair is joining Northants for the opening seven mantches of the LV= Insurance County Championship Division Two campaign, while Shaw is heading to the County Ground in June to play first-class and 50-over cricket until the end of the season.

And it was Shaw's Mumbai that came out on top in the final, winning by 169 runs, with both players making contributions for their teams.

Shaw hit 46 from 63 balls as Mumbai scored 224 all out in the first innings, although he could only manage 11 in the 418 they managed in their second knock.

Nair struggled in the first innings as he was dismissed for a 12-ball duck in Vidarbha's paltry 105 all out, but then dug in to make 74 from 220 balls in the second innings as his side tried to force an unlikely victory chasing 538 to win.

It wasn't to be for Nair and his team-mates though as they were dismissed for 368 to hand the trophy to Shaw and Mumbai.

Both Shaw and Nair enjoyed strong campaigns overall though.

Shaw missed the opening weeks of the competition as he was still recovering from the knee injury suffered while with Northants last summer, but went on to make 451 runs in six matches, at an average of 50.11. He scored one century and one half-century.

As for Nair, he ended up seventh in the list of the competition's top run-scorers.

He amassed 690 runs in 17 innings across 10 matches, finishing with an average of 45.51. Nair hit two centuries and three half-centuries.

Nair will now be preparing to make his way to Northampton, to prepare for that opening Championship clash at Sussex on Friday, April 5, which is just three weeks away.

Meanwhile, another Northants import for the start of 2024 continued his impressive form in Australia.

Fast bowler Chris Tremain finished as the top wicket-taker in the Sheffield Shield league stage, claiming nine wickets as New South Wales eased to a five-wicket win over Queensland in their final group game this week.

Tremain, who is due to play in Northants' opening four matches of the Championship campaign, snared six for 20 as Queensland were rolled over for 144 in their first innings, and then took three for 43 as they made 318 in their second knock.

The win wasn't enough to earn NSW a place in the Shield final though as they finished third in the table. The final will be contested by Sam Whiteman's Western Australia and Tasmania, starting next Thursday.

Tremain enjoyed a fantastic season overall, claiming 50 wickets in 10 matches at an average of just 15.9, and a strike-rate of a scalp every 38 balls bowled.

His wicket tally was the most by any bowler in the competition, finishing two ahead of fellow pace bowler Nathan McAndrew.

Tremain is expected to arrive in the UK in the days before the opener at Hove against Sussex.